


And Again

by fudgernutter



Series: Scrapped Ideas [1]
Category: Undertale
Genre: Character Death, Multi, Pap knows whats going on, Self-Insert, its gonna take a while for shipping to start, like really slow burn, slight AU, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:18:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 42,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fudgernutter/pseuds/fudgernutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You sit up slowly, even though you can move properly, your body hurts. You did manage to do a face-plant of epic proportions into the bed of flowers… How were there even flowers growing down here? You tilt your head up and all you see is inky blackness. There is no light for these flowers to be growing anyway. It’s honestly disconcerting.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. TAKEOFF

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we got ourselves a story.
> 
> This chapter has been updated as of 1/28!

It was Saturday. Honestly, it had been a nice when you had woke up to an empty house and not your Mom barging in on you and telling you “it’s 9 o’clock now, time to get up”. Okay, yeah you had gone to bed at 3 AM the same morning, but still, it was the weekend and you deserved a day to sleep in after a full week of work. You’re 22 now for Christ’s sakes. Come on, it’s not like you did nothing.

You did eventually get up out of the warm cocoon that was your bed, showered and dressed. (Okay so you were technically still living with your parents, but your school loans were expensive, and they had been fixing up the basement for you to rent out anyway.) You took care of the cats, and your Mom’s recently bought puggle, and decided “Hell it’s a great day out. Let’s go to Mt Ebbot.” You wrote a quick note to put on the bar counter, and packed a backpack. A sandwich, a couple snacks, water, and electronics shoved in a bag later, you pulled on an old striped hoodie and got in your car to make the 30 minute drive to the trails you had walked since you were just a kid.

Of course Mt Ebbot, like all other heavily forested and rocky mountain areas, had seen its fair share of casualties, mainly kids. Ghost stories of their souls wandering the area honestly made the old trail even more interesting to you. (Cuz let’s be honest, if you didn’t already like the spooky feel of the old mountain, a couple ghosts were only gonna make it better). You pulled into the old gravel parking lot, locked the vehicle, and started on your familiar route through the old pines trees.

Honestly, you could spend so much time at Mt Ebbot, and many of your friends found it weird that you could and did. It was already way past noon and you were still poking around the trails and splashing in the cold mountain stream. There was already many more photos on your phone than before, and you knew that you should be heading back soon to take care of the dog and see if any of your friends were doing anything fun tonight. 

You sighed, straightening up from the crouch you had been holding while snapping pics of the beautiful foliage. You then noticed an old trail to your far left. You made your way through the the fallen trees and ivy and noticed that the trail was actually old stone steps that led through the bush. Curiosity, always your time-management downfall, told you to follow it. And, with a grin, you whipped your phone back out and sent a quick text to your mom that you might be late tonight. Something in the back of your mind told you that this probably wasn’t a good idea, but you shoved the thought away with a wave before starting down the crumbling stone stairs.

You followed them for a while, and just when you had thoughts of turning back around, you noticed that the trail led to an old cave. It didn’t look man-made, but if the trail led here, you knew that something cool would be in here. In any case, it would be a fun thing to show your friends later. So you walked in, using a small key-ring flashlight to illuminate the huge cavern. There were a few bats overhead, so you made sure not to flash the light at them too much, instead keeping it focusing on the ground in front of you. Of course then, a loud bang behind you (Damn kids setting off fire-crackers in the woods to spook up some trouble, you griped internally. When did you get so old?) startled you and the bats in the cave. 

“Shit," you hissed as you crouched to the ground, all the bats flying around in panic to get to the cave entrance. One flew towards you in its literal blind terror, and you felt yourself losing your balance. Another choice word left your mouth as you scrambled to right yourself, only to have the sinking feeling of dread rise when you noticed your hand was hitting nothing behind you. You turned your head and your eyes grew wide at the sight of a literally empty chasm right behind you. Terror bubbled up to your throat as you fell down, your scream mixing with the bats as they vacated the cave.


	2. UNDERGROUND

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Now we're cooking with fire.
> 
> Lets meet our favorite hate-filled flower child.
> 
> This chaper has been updated as of 1/28

You woke up with a start. Your eyes blink owlishly. You were laying on face down a bed of golden flowers, face full of smushed petals and leaves. Slowly, you move and stretch your body. Everything seems okay, nothing is broken, you even see your keychain flashlight directly in front of you. You sit up slowly, even though you can move properly, your body hurts. You did manage to do a face-plant of epic proportions into the bed of flowers… How were there even flowers growing down here? You tilt your head up and all you see is inky blackness. There is no light for these flowers to be growing anyway. It’s honestly disconcerting, but you feel something warm down your face and it distracts your enough to put the weird savior flowers out of your mind.

Wiping it off with your hand, you realize that it is blood. Its dribbled down to the end of your nose. Using a jerry-rig of your flashlight, your cell phone and some kleenexes from your backpack, you manage to clean up and stop the bleeding. Is only a small cut above your right eyebrow. Honestly, you feel really lucky that a cut eyebrow is the worst of what you got from plummeting down here. You then immediately dial 911. It rings a few times before your hear the chirp of the call being dropped. You look at your phone. It says it has signal so you try again. And again. And again. And that’s when it hits you, fear gripping your chest and a cold feeling settling into the pit of your stomach.

No one knows where you are. You might be alive now but for how long? You have about a half a bottle of water and two granola bars that you know of. There might be some lose mints in your backpack, but there isn’t much more than can sustain you than that. You’re hyperventilating. You clutch your chest as you stare at the phone. it says there are 3 bars but you can’t get through to the police to track you down. What are you going to do?

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,” you mutter as you try it again and again and again. “No no no no-” You’re close to tears at this point. 

“No. Stop. Think about this you idiot.” You tell yourself. Hearing your voice in the room is grounding. You take your flashlight and look around. To the left of you is a tunnel. You don’t know where it goes, but it’s better than sitting in the flowerbed crying. You pack your stuff back into your bag and stand. It takes you a minute because you are shaking and your head still hurts, but you make it. You take a deep breath, and put one foot in front of the other.

You’re moving! Huzzah. Big accomplishment. You’re reminded oddly of one of your favorite childhood movies, but alas, there is no David Bowie in tight pants to offer you your dreams. But you do keep moving, one foot in front of the other, until you’re walking through the tunnel. As you do so, you realize that the tunnel is actually getting bigger and the rock of the walls starts to look more angular. They are carved! You get excited. This means there might be a way out and that thought makes you pick up your pace a little. You come to another wide area you look around and see another tunnel (hallway??) that seems to be glowing. The grip on your chest loosens, and you start moving towards the light. You’re halfway through the room when a flower quite literally pops up in front of you.

It’s almost as tall as you are and the head of it was as big as a dinner plate. It turns? And looks at you? You gape. 

It has a face. It’s smiling.

“Howdy!” It chirps, voice child-like and annoyingly bright. “I’m Flowey the Flower! Nice to meet ‘cha!”

You cannot speak. You think you might have hit your head harder than you believed, but no, this flower is talking to you like it’s an everyday occurrence. A part of you thinks about the old lore about monsters in the hills. Is that what this is? A Monster?

“You’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha? Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!”

Nope. Nope. You were not ready. The only thing you knew of Monsters is that all the old folklore said that they were cruel and terrible things. You consider turning around and running back to the room full of flowers. Yet suddenly you get a bizarre sense of vertigo. You feel like wind is whooshing past your ears even though you are standing still. You notice a red glowing light start to glow from your chest. You pull at your hoodie and look down to your chest. Right where your heart would be is a lighted equivalent. It’s not anatomically correct or anything, more like a paper cut-out. But it’s there, and it moves with you when you sway. What the ever living fuck is this?

“See that heart? That is your soul! The very culmination of your being! Your soul starts of weak, but it can grow strong by gaining a lot of LV. LV stand for love of course! You want some love don’t cha? Well here I’ll share some with you!” The flower winks at you. Can this get any more bizarre?

Suddenly what looks like fairy-lights spark up behind him. “Down here love is shared through… little.... friendliness pellets.”

Okay. That sounds fake but okay. “Are you ready?” No. “Move around and grab as many as you can!”

The lights are slow, but they move faster the closer they get to you. Your instinct tells you to move and, honestly, not trusting a giant talking flower, you listen to it for once and dodge them. You look towards the flower and realize he’s looking at you with a dark expression. You’re not sure, but you think it’s disgust?

“Hey buddy, you missed them,” his voice is dramatically lower than before. “Lets try again, okay?” Another round of fairy-lights floats toward you. You immediately dodge again. 

“Is this a joke?” He starts again. He is literally glaring at you. “Are you braindead?” (Maybe, you think. I don’t know how else this could possibly be happening.) “Run. Into. THE. BULLETS!”

Bullets??? His face freezes, he know he messed up and part of you is smug knowing that you were right to dodge the stupid lights. The smug feeling crawls into the innermost parts of your brain when he shoots another round at you. They’re faster this time but you hit the deck and they buzz right past you. Looking back to the flower you see that its face has changed into something demonic. Black eyes with pinpricks of light with a grin that shows rows of sharp teeth. This is it, you are going to die at the hands of a possessed fucking flower. The old folklore is right. If anyone ever finds your swiss-cheese corpse, at least you’ll have an interesting gravestone that proudly says “Shot to death by killer Sunflower”.

“You know what’s going on here don’t you? You just wanted to see me suffer.” All the sudden you can’t move, it’s like an invisible box has trapped you in place. The lights ring around you and slowly move in. The freaking flower is maniacally laughing, his mouth opened so wide it splits his face in two. 

You’re stuck. Stranded. You are going to die. You close your eyes and pray to whatever deity exists that it’s fast and painless. But, suddenly you feel a flash of warmth move across the room and you open your eyes to see that Flowey has literally be knocked out of the ground and crawled away. The bullets that had surrounded you now gone.

You instantly cover your chest with your hands, trying to protect your soul. you hear loud footsteps rapidly approaching. When you see what is making them you can’t help but oogle.

“What a terrible creature!” It’s a bipedal goat.


	3. HEARTACHE PT. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am so excited to get to the next chapter but this one was getting too long, so I decided to break it in two.
> 
>  
> 
> Edited on 1/31

The goat-woman runs over to you after dealing with the homicidal flower and worriedly looked you over. 

“What a terrible creature! Attacking a poor innocent youth,” she had said to you while you stared at her in morbid fascination. When she talked you could see fangs in her mouth and her eyes were yellow with red-colored irises. As disquieting as she looked, she only seemed concerned with your wellbeing. She was white and fluffy with long rabbit-like ears and small horns on her head. With her long purple and white dress, she looked more like a monk than someone who was all about attacking. She was also huge. Like almost 7 feet huge. 

“Do not be afraid my child,” She coos. You’re a thrown off by the term of endearment. Maybe since you were so little compared to her you could only assume she had mistaken you for a kid. “I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins.”

She crouches down in front of you, like she is worried you might run away. Honestly though, you might. You think you feel tears starting to form, and you suppress the need to sob with a sound like a hiccup. “I pass through this place everyday to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time,” she says in a slow and even manner. She then reaches a furry hand towards you, “Come, I will guide you through the Catacombs.”

You look at her and then you glance at her hand. You don’t want to seem rude, especially since she saved your life, but you’re pretty wary about the whole situation. That last Monster had been kind enough at the start and had turned on you. After a moment of deliberation you place your hand in her own large one. She gives you a reassuring smile and helps you to your feet.

“Oh!” She starts, startling you as she stops and abruptly turns. “You’re hurt. I don’t do much healing magic, but would you like me to heal you?”

You can only blink at her question. You hesitate, more confused than anything. You then give an unsure nod.

The smile she gives your is blinding, like you passed a really hard test or something. Soon her hand is glowing a soft green color and you feel a cooling sensation move through your body. As soon as it had started, it stopped, and your body doesn’t ache anymore. You touched the cut at your forehead. You can’t feel it. You are still trying to wrap your head around healing magic, and you blink back the tears and give her a watery smile. She smiles sweetly at you and lets your hand go, turning around to start walking with a simple, “This way.”

You stop as you watch her walk into the lit tunnel. What kind of weird rabbit-hole did you fall through? Was Toriel your white rabbit guiding you along? You don’t know, but you’re too scared to not follow her. So far, she had been nice to you and healed you and wherever she was heading was probably safer than sticking around here to wait for Flowey to show up and go homicidal on your ass again.

Although Toriel walks slowly, you still have to jog to keep up with her large steps. She leads you through large impressive rooms made out of some kind of purple rock. Intricate carvings move across the pillars and the ceiling. You’re not sure what they mean, but they are beautiful and Toriel stops multiple time to turn and wait for you to catch up. Finally she stops and you almost bump into her.

“Welcome to your new home, innocent one,” she says smiling. What? The statement throws you for a loop. Although innocent one is definitely a new one, the phrase “your new home” is much more concerning.

“What do you mean ‘new home’?” You sputter out. You had a home to get going back to. You suddenly feel a lot less safe with this woman. A woman, all alone, in a place that so far seemed very isolated. You didn’t want to follow her anymore. You stop and place and watch her as she continues on.

She looks at you, and smiles sweetly again. She continues speaking, pointedly ignoring your question. Her voice is much tighter as she says, “Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins.”

There doesn’t’ seem to be any exit to this room you have followed her into. She walks a specific route across dark grey rocks to your right, then flips a lever on the wall. A wall opens to form a doorway. “The ruins are full of puzzles, ancient fusions between diversions and door-keys. One must solve them to get from room to room. Please, adjust yourself to the sight of them.” Okay, they’re essentially booby-traps. (When did you become Indiana Jones?) You don’t care about that. You care about the fact that Toriel has told you the equivalent of “you’re never leaving” and you feel your heart start to pound painfully in your chest. You open your mouth to ask a question, but Toriel is already leaving. You take another glance at the trap to your left and weigh your options, before jogging after her.

“To make progress here you must trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip.”

“Toriel?” You stutter out, but she quickly leaves you, walking down the corridor. You turn to follow her but you there is a conveniently placed sign in front of you. “Don’t forget to read the signs!” it says, and you can’t help but scoff. A poster on the wall, reads “Stay on the path”. You can’t help but throw a hand up in aggravation before turning to walk down the corridor to where Toriel is standing. 

“Toriel,” you start, “I need to get out of here.” 

“Of course!” She says, obviously nervous. “Just flip those switches on the wall.”

You furrow your brow. She’s avoiding your questions. But you bite your lip, quite literally, and turn to flip the switch. Its got yellow chalk arrows pointing to it. You huff out a breath, in amusement or irritation you’re honestly not sure, but you hear a click and follow Toriel to another switch to repeat the process. 

“Splendid!” Toriel chims, clapping her hands in front of her. “I am proud of you little one. Let us to move to the next room.” 

You don’t take your eyes off her as you follow her. “Toriel?” You’re voice is hardly above a whisper now. Why won’t she answer you?

“As a human living in the underground monsters may attack you, you will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight. When you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time and I can come end the conflict. Try it with this dummy.”

You look at Toriel, then to the dummy. “What?”

She continues smiling, “Just walk up to the dummy and we can practise.”

“B-but?” You stutter and pull your arms close, looking at the dummy. It looks like a simple training dummy, but you can’t help but to wary. Nothing makes sense down here and you were no closer to getting answers than you were before. You are honestly so exasperated right now that you step towards the dummy just to appease her. 

It surprises you terribly when the weird feeling of vertigo hits you again like it did with Flowey. Your chest grows red and the small red heart reappears on your chest. How is this happening?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm glad this is getting a lot of Kudos! Thanks for the nice responce! I will try to update as often as possible!


	4. HEARTACHE PT. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will actually be split into 3 to get through the bit with Toriel. Thanks for all the kind words! Please be patient!
> 
> Edits made on 2/7
> 
> There is a death scene now in this chapter, just fyi

You stared at the dummy in awe. It didn’t move, it didn’t speak, in fact it didn’t seem sentient at all. Yet you watched it warily nonetheless. You looked over to see that, despite the weird darkening of the room, you could still see Toriel standing to the side. She noticed you watching and waved slightly. She looked like she was trying to say something to you, but you couldn’t hear her over the sound of your own blood pulsing in your ears.

“Hello…” you stuttered out. The dummy did nothing in response, you weren’t sure why it would, and the vertigo and darkness left just as quickly as they appeared. The whole interaction had seemed to please Toriel and she pulled you along to a long hallway where she “tested” your independence. After that, she had given you a cellphone and told you to stay still and then left.

You could only stare after her. You weren’t sure if you prefered to be alone or to follow her. After you are positive that she is not coming back, you try dialing 911 on the old nokia she had given you. You really don’t know what you’re expecting, but the phone just rings indefinitely. Your stomach turns and you press the end call button. You take a calming breath, but it doesn’t seem to help. The weird feeling of vertigo from the monsters jumping at you was making you sick, and your anxiety was on the rise due to Toriel’s not-so-subtle subterfuge at redirecting or “misunderstanding” your questions.

Toriel had told you to stay here and wait for her, but the truth of the matter is, you know doing what she tells you for the most part is not going to get you out. You clutch the cellphone in your hand with a white-knuckled grip and start moving forward again.

You’d like to really wander around the Ruins and look closer, the architecture of the place is of outstanding quality, but you more or less wander through the rooms with mindlessly. You feel eyes on you and you try just to find an exit. It’s then when the first monster appears. It looks like a giant frog but it had a small, dark cavern where its belly should be. Inside it looks to be another set of eyes. You stutter out a breath as it jumps towards you shouting, “HUMAN!”

It’s the same old rigmarole: your soul is forcibly pulled from your chest and everything looks darker and bigger at the same time. You take a step back and bounce into an invisible barrier. You can hear your blood pounding in your ears. You try to say something but it gets caught in your throat. Everything seems to slow down as flies fly out of the cavern in it’s stomach. 

You try to dodge out of the way, but the flight paths of the flies are random and one hits you directly in your soul. You cry out and clutch your chest, falling to your knees. The monster seems to pause while you try to collect yourself. Your eyes are full of tears as you whimper out, “P-please… I don’t want to fight.” It’s eyes, well the one’s on the top of it’s frog head, seem to widen, but it ribbits and sends out another flurry of the flies. You manage to dodge them but you feel like you’re slower and more sluggish than before. You stumble and the phone falls from your hand, clattering away and past the frog. You can only stare after it in horror. You look back at the frog and sputter. This time the frog jumps at you, hitting you in the stomach and winding you.

You feel weak and woozy. A small voice in your head repeats Flowey’s words from earlier: “It’s kill or be killed.” The voice doesn’t sound like Fowey though, nor does it sound like your own voice. But either way, it spurs you to grab the small swiss-army knife off of your keychain. You pop it open to the knife attachment, and hold it in front of you. The frog looks from you to the knife before ribbiting again. 

“S-stay away!” You tell it, voice raising. You watch as it tenses in front of you. You practically screech, “Stay away!”

It jumps at you again, and you try to dodge it, but the frog is right at your chest, where the small knife is brandished threateningly. You watch in horror as it impales itself on the blade. It’s eyes widen before slowly closing. The entire monster fades to dust.

You’re standing there for a long time, long after your soul has returned to it’s rightful place and the color and depth of everything has returned to normal. 

What was that? Did you just kill that thing? You feel sick and weak. You fish the phone Toriel gave you out of the dust, and while you are digging you find some gold coins as well. You take them as well. You’re not sure why.

Then you’re up and running. Sprinting through the Ruins in horror tears on your cheeks. You don’t know how to process this. You’re maybe not processing it. Another monster pops out at you as you rush, something round with one singular eyeball placed in the center of its mass with large teeth beneath it. You instantly back away from it, but it’s too late, and the monster rushes you, instantly pulling you into another confrontation.

You end up screaming at it, but it just gnashes its teeth at you. You’re so scared. So so scared, that all you can do is cry. You’re tired and you feel so empty. You don’t know why these Monsters wanted to fight you. Toriel said that they’d leave you alone, but maybe Flowey was right. 

The Monster lunges at you and you manage to evade it. You then press call for the only number in your phone and Toriel picks up. “Hello my child. Do you have need of me?”

The Monster hears Toriel’s voice over the line and instantly reels back, then ends the fight, running back into the Ruins. You manage to keep your voice pretty level, “I-I’m okay now.”

“Oh! Well in that case, I’m glad you called. I just have a question. Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or Butterscotch?”

“C-c-cinnamon?” You stutter out. You don’t have a preference for either, and honestly you don’t understand what kind of question it is in general.

“Oh. Well do you dislike Butterscotch? Would you turn your nose up at it if was on your plate?” You stare puzzled at the phone feeling very ditached. What was she gonna do? Make a cake with it? Your silence must have told her all she needs to know, because after a beat or two she says, “Okay! I understand. Please do not leave the room!”

You were far gone from the room, and you hope to find some exit to this hell-hole you’ve fallen into. You walk a couple more steps when the phone rings in your hand. “Oh! I just realized I haven’t cleaned up in a while. I don’t normally have people over! Please be patient!” You need to go home,

The rest of the trip is oddly peaceful. You don’t encounter any other monsters, which is great! You don’t have to fight them or anything if they don’t show up to attack. On the other hand it’s horrible because it gives you time to think: about what you’ve done, where you are, and if you’re ever going to get home or not. You also end up falling through some crumbling floors, find a spider bake sale (that you quickly retreat from), and eventually end up finding Toriel who is barrelling through a large cavern with dead foliage and what looks like the entrance to a small house. She is looking at her cell-phone, when you hear the one she gifted you ring.

“Hello!” She cheerily bleats. She then notices you on the other side of the clearing. As she walks over to her spot she continues, ”How did you get here, my child? There were puzzles in there that I hadn’t taught you yet!” 

She pauses in front of you, taking in your appearance. If she notices the dust on your clothes or the phone gripped tightly in your hands, she makes no comment on it. She does offer you a paw which you take and heal you. She softly adds on, “I should have known not to leave you for so long. It was irresponsible of me to try and surprise you like this. Well I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come small one!”

She turns around to walk to the house. You freeze in place, tugging her to a stop. “W-wait!” You shout. “Toriel, you have been very nice to me, but I need to get home!”

Her eyebrows scrunch up in concern. “All will be explained soon! Come inside and just rest for a bit, hmm?” She must notice that you were going to argue because she quickly tacks on, “At least for some food and sleep.”

You are tired. Actually you’re exhausted. You’re not sure if you can eat though. Your stomach is tied in knots with panic and worry, but some sleep sounds appealing either way. You let the death grip you have on her hand release and slowly let her tug you into the small house.

It’s cute and sparsely furnished. Everything in the house is scaled up to fit Toriel’s proportions. She stops to look at you, and twists her hands together. “Do you smell that? It’s a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival,” she trips over the last word, like she is fighting back tears. She soldiers on though, “I want you to enjoy your time here. Here, I have one more surprise for you.”

She walks down a hallway to the right and stops in front of the first door and states, “A room of your own.” She puts a hand to your shoulder, in what you can only assume is supposed to be a comforting gesture. You don’t really register it at all. 

“Oh no! Is something burning? Make yourself at home!” She sprints off to wherever the kitchen is, and you shakily open the door. There are toys and clothing in all different sizes. You can tell that she does not want you to leave. You fall onto the bed and cry yourself to sleep. What else is there for you to do?


	5. HEARTACHE PT. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so sorry.
> 
> Edited on 2/7

You wake up slowly but keep your eyes shut. You pray that it was all a dream: that you’ll wake up in your own house, in your own bed, with your own clothing and pictures and books. You open your eyes and realize that you are not. You stare at the dimly lit room.

On the floor is a piece of pie. She had made you a pie. You definitely weren’t hungry: your eyes felt like cotton and your stomach like you ate a rock. You try not to think too much about the situation at hand, but you’re still in a sleepy haze with dulled emotions, so it’s not too hard. You do wander around until you find a bathroom to clean yourself up in.

Everything is still awkwardly large, but you make do as you relieve yourself. You consider using the bath, but you don’t want to be here any longer than you have to. So instead you use the sink to wash your face and rinse out your mouth to the best of your abilities. When you catch yourself in the mirror, you frown. Your makeup didn’t wash off completely so you have raccoon eyes and a splotchy face. To be honest, you look pretty dreadful, but you try not to pay no mind, already retracing your steps to the room you slept in. 

The pie is still sitting on the floor. You purposefully ignore it. You’re terribly frightened of what will happen to you down here. You don’t feel the paranoia is uncalled for because Toriel has, so far, not let you leave nor given you any answers really. You quickly dress and pray that you can sneak through the house before Toriel comes snooping.

But you don’t really know the lay of the household and accidently run into Toriel who is reading in a large main room. She regards you with a small smile. “Up already?”

You clench your hands. “When can I go home?”

“This is your home now,” Toriel responds in kind. You shake your head. 

“I need to go to my home.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know about this book I am reading? It’s called “72 uses-””

“How can I get home?” You ask again, interrupting her.

“Did you know that some snails flip their digestive systems as they get older?” She is staring intently at the book like it hold the solution to getting you to stop asking to leave.

“Toriel, how do I get home?” You repeat.

“Uh… stay here one moment. I have something I need to do,” She deflects and quickly runs from the room. You hear her toenails clack on the wooden floor as she runs. You chase after her and watch as she barrels down the stairs. Quickly, you run to the room you were staying in, and grab your backpack. You slip it on and charge down the steps after her. 

She isn’t much farther ahead of you, walking down a long hallway. You cry out after her. “Toriel! Please, I just want to go home. Please.”

She is in obvious distress, and only glances back at you. She is slowing down, but still moving ahead. You feel tears on your face again. You don’t understand. You repeatedly cry out after her. Eventually she responds with, “I am going to destroy the door to the Underground.”

“Why?” You cry out. “Please just let me go home. I just want to go home!”

“Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I’ve seen it again and again. they come, they leave, they die. You naive child… If you leave the ruins they will kill you… Asgore will kill you. I am only trying to protect you! Is living here with me so bad?”

You are nearing the door. You can see it in front of you. The smell of fresh air carries from it. But as you look at it, Toriel stands in front of it. “Please, just go upstairs and to your room!”

“Toriel- my family! My mom, dad… my sister!” You try and reason with her, and you can see the distraught look on her face. “I can’t… I can’t leave them! They will think I’m dead!”

She shakes her head, and when she looks at your she has the steely look of determination on her face. “If you want to leave you must fight me. Show me that you have the strength to make it out there!”

Fight? You didn’t want to fight Toriel. You didn’t want to fight anybody. You had just wanted to leave. To go home. You are already shaking from the emotions, that when your soul moves out of your body, you almost topple. You look up at her furrowed eyes and feel helpless. You could run away, but that would only end with your trapped in the Ruins. Maybe there is another way out… but the door is right in front of you. If you could just get past her…

“Toriel…” you plead. But she ignores you. She instead summons magic and lets loose a volley of fireballs. You hit the floor and can feel the warmth of the fire on your back. She is really throwing attacks at you. You can’t believe it, but the panic from yesterday returns in full force. You remember the frog and how it had just kept attacking and attacking. Would this be the same?

“Can’t we talk this out?” You call out to her, trying in desperation to use the tactic she had taught you while dodging another round of magic. “You’ve been so nice to me… Why can’t I leave?”

Toriel’s only response is another wave of her hand and the flash of fire balls. You try again, and again, but you are getting so tired and worn out from dodging. You can’t keep up with her fire, and eventually you accidently slip and a fireball connects with your arm. You can’t help but cry out in pain. Your sweater is smoldering and your arm is pink and sore. Even Toriel’s stern expression seems to lift at the injury.

Everything seems to slow down in that moment. You come to a terrible conclusion that Toriel isn’t going to let you leave. You had even tried talking your way out like she suggested but she was not listening to a word you said. You were going to have to fight back again. The Underground was really changing how you felt about fighting and hurting people in general. A vicious thought moves across your mind that these people really are monsters, and you are just going to have to show them.

You didn’t really have the size or strength to overpower her. Toriel was much taller than you. The only weapon you had was that small swiss army knife you could feel weighing heavily in your pocket. You reach into your pocket and you feel the bite of the cold metal as you clench your hand around it. Maybe you could just injure her… Slow her down enough to get around her… Then you could get to the door.

Toriel notices your stalling and reaches forward to grab you, and you instinctively slash out. She seems surprised but mainly unhurt. “What are you doing?” She cries out to you.

“I just want to go home Toriel,” you whisper, looking at her in fear but determination in your face. You are shaking, the small knife in your hand put in between the two of you. She fires up another attack and you barely dodge the fire.

“Just let me leave,” you plead with her. You don’t want to hurt anyone. You don’t want to fight. You want your parents, and your bed, and your cat, and even your mom’s dog. She sets her face and leans forward to grab you again. This time when you stab out, you hit the mark.

The injury hits her in the chest. She looks at the small knife stuck in her in disbelief. “Do you really hate me that much?” She asks softly, falling to her knees. She lets out a weak chuckle. “I think… the people I was really protecting... was them…”

You watch in silence as she turns to dust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DIDNT KILL TORIEL BUT I LOOKED IT UP AND ITS SO SAD.


	6. ANTICIPATION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is kind of a short update, but I've been kind of busy!  
> But still, a short update is still an update so enjoy!
> 
> Edited 2/7

The sound of the knife dropping to the ground shakes your from your stupor. In the area where Toriel once stood is a pile of ashes. You instantly drop to your knees and heave. You haven’t had anything to eat in a while but you still manage to upchuck whatever was in your stomach. You turn to look at the door but can only see the knife and the pile of ashes. You can’t help but to heave again.

It takes you quite some time, but you manage to collect yourself. Your face is wet and your mouth tastes like bile, but you turn and confront the pile of ashes that were once Toriel. You can’t believe it. You are in denial. But the presence of scorch marks on the stone and the burn on your arm lets you know otherwise. That was real. All of this is real. You had in fact, whether on accident or purpose, killed multiple people. The thought is especially sobering.

You finally get up on your feet, and with your hands and a piece of paper you found in your backpack, you scoop up Toriel’s remains and carry them back to her house where you scatter them in the leaves beneath the dead oak tree. You then stand there for a good long while. A moment of silence or a prayer for her soul. You don’t know if there was a place people went to after they died, but you sincerely hoped that wherever Toriel was now, she was ok. She probably wasn’t though. She probably hated your guts. You don’t really know if you deserved it or not. You brush as much ash off your now charred hoodie and consider rummaging through Toriel’s house for some extra clothes, but you instantly reject that idea. You had already killed the woman (bile rised to your throat again at the thought), the least you could do was leave her stuff in peace. Instead you turn and numbly go back down the stairs towards the exit.

As you walk through, you eye the swiss army knife now sitting innocently on the floor. You instantly pick it back up: that voice in the back of your mind warning you that there still might be people who won’t listen, who will attack even when you don’t. 

You continue on your journey down the pathway. The corridor is at a slight angle upwards, so you can’t help but feel a little excited of the possibility of it being an exit. As you walk, you feel the air getting colder and colder by the second. You pull your worn-out hoodie closer to you, to try and protect yourself from the chill, as you move. Finally, you spot the doorway. A hole in the ceiling of the tunnel has let some light in to shine on it. It feels like hope. But as you step into the light, the demonic flower pops out in front of you again.

“Oh… So you did it after all… I knew you’d come around eventually,” he laughs at you. You don’t respond to him, the mention of your deeds making you want to puke again. Instead you silently move around him as he laughs. Fuck him. Fuck him and his stupid yellow petals.

You open the door. Walking out you are greeted with something that confuses and disturbs you. You are in a snowy forest, surrounded by trees that have already lost their foliage. You look up to the sky, only to find it made of stone. You are still trapped inside the Underground.


	7. ANTICIPATION PT.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying my best to crank out these chapters.
> 
> Also it's 3am as I post this so... forgive me.
> 
> Edited 2/29

You were, for the most part completely numb. The weather on the other side of the door had been like January on fucking Pluto or some shit. You instantly regretted leaving Toriel’s manor without taking some extra clothes. Your hands were already completely numb and you could hardly feel your feet anymore either. And every time the breeze went by, the cold would cut through you like a knife (You had to take a moment to stop yourself from puking at the analogy). Yet still you kept moving, knowing that movement might be the difference between life and death. 

Soon you started to hear what sounded like footsteps behind you. Instantly, you couldn’t help but panic again, gripping the swiss army knife you have hidden in the front pocket of your hoodie. Eventually you come to a bridge with what looked like those Japanese outdoor shrines… Except made out of crudely cut wood. As you stopped and pondered the architecture, a voice called out from behind you. 

“Human, that’s not anyway to greet a new friend. Now turn around and shake my hand.”

For a second, you think about taking out your knife just in case, but you don’t. So you instead decide to comply with the voice, but it isn’t very easy. Your body is shaking and your teeth are chattering. You think you might be in shock on top of freezing to death. But eventually you come face-to-face with a skeleton. Face-to-skull? Honestly you weren’t sure what he was, but he did definitely look like a skeleton. He was holding his hand out to you with a large and expectant grin on his face. For a moment, you couldn’t help but to stare numbly at the offered hand. He raised his eyebrows, (brow-bones, whatever) how the fuck that was even possible, you didn’t know, and you eventually took it.

Only to hear the wet sound of a fart.

“Ah, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. That never gets old,” He says, showing you the whoopee cushion before putting it into the pocket of his jacket. You can’t help but to laugh of the absurdity of it all. You had killed someone, and now a talking skeleton was playing a fart joke on you? You must have died on the way down here, because this didn’t make sense at all. You keep laughing until it turns into hysterics. 

“I know I’m a comedian, but jeez kid, are you okay?” He sounds pretty concerned, but all you can do is sink to the ground in the snow as the hysterics give way to tears. Great chest-racking sobs come out of you that you quickly try to muffle. This is it. This is how you die. Your butt is going numb from sitting in the snow and you’re growing increasingly tired. You shake your head and think that you should probably get yourself up and introduce your murderer-ass to the really weird skeleton guy, but the snow is looking less like a threat and more comfortable as the seconds slip by.

You feel one of his hands touch your shoulder. You hear him mumble something under his breath before he places something warm around your shoulders. It’s his jacket you realize, and you look up at him in wonder.

“Hey kid,” he starts. His voice is deep and calm. You are okay with this. “Let’s get you up and warm again, huh?” You nod kind of jerkily, and he helps you to your feet. It takes you a while to stand up straight due to your potentially frozen legs, but you do it, and he pushes you along the path. He leads you to an little wooden outpost and pushes you through a door on the side. 

Inside the building, it is incredibly warm. And you purposefully move around a bit to get the blood flowing. You get the joy of pins and needles in your hands and feet, but the momentary discomfort is better than having to amputate them off.

“My name is Sans. Sans the Skeleton,” he adds as he sits down on a chair in front of the outpost’s main window.

“Frisk,” you return, your voice hoarse. It’s not your real name, but it’s a nickname that has been given to you since you were a kid. You sag down to the floor near the door, immensely tired, both physically and emotionally.

“Well Frisk, it’s ice to meet you,” He returns, his grin getting bigger, if it was even possible. You give him a small smile in response. Wow, he was a real comedian isn’t he?

It’s quiet for a while and you slowly start to drift off to sleep. You’re dozing when he says, “You know I’m supposed to be on the lookout for humans.”

You snap to attention. What does that mean? Toriel had said something about Monsters outside trying to kill you. You immediately stiffen, ready to bolt for the door.

“But don’t worry. I don’t really want to capture humans anyway. Now my brother on the other hand… Now he’s a human capturing fanatic.” You turn to look at him. His voice is flat. You can't help but to wonder if you should leave.

He turns to look at you fully and you see he has a shit eating grin on his face. You look at him, utterly perplexed and still slightly terrified. He winks at you (how???) and says, “But don’t worry. He couldn’t hurt anything if he tried.”

You don’t really feel relieved, but you try to trust this skeleton man who has let you chill out in his little shack and given you his jacket. This momentary zen is disturbed by a harsh, loud voice crying out “Sans!” from beyond the station’s window. “Oh look, there he is now,” Sans deadpans, then quickly whispers, “Hide under the counter.” 

You scootch yourself under the counter, just as the other person clomps up to the window. Sans welcomes them with a simple, “Hey bro.”

“Sans, you lazybones, I’ve been looking for you everywhere! All you do is sit and boondoggle. It’s been 8 days and you still haven't calibrated your puzzles!” The voice gets louder with every word. Dear lord, was this Sans’ brother?

“Ouch bro. I’ll have you know I did a ton of work.”

“Don’t you dare-”

“A skeleton.”

You hear Sans’ brother let out a sigh, which you feel on a spiritual level. You hear him mutter out a woeful, “Why does someone as great as I have to do so much to get the recognition I deserve?”

“Wow. It sounds like you’re really working yourself… the bone.” 

A beat passes.

“Either way, get to work! And this time, put a little more backbone into it!” You hear him laugh to himself as he walks away. 

“The coast is clear,” Sans tells you, and you slowly move yourself out from under the counter to look over it. You let a soft sigh as you realize the coast is clear, and you plop back down on your butt in relief.

“Hey so can I ask you favor?”

You look up him questioningly. 

“My bro’s been pretty bummed lately. I think seeing a human would really cheer him up. Do you think you could play along with him?”

You blink. You’re honestly not sure if you have any choice, but Sans has been pretty nice to you so far so you just nod.

“Thanks,” he says, pretty relieved. He then gives you another wink as he says, “Don’t worry kid. I’ll keep an eye socket out for you just in case.”

You nod again and move to return his jacket.

“Whoa kid. Don’t worry about that. It’s freezing out there and I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.” You scoff at the remark. He chuckles silently, before continuing, “You go on ahead. I know a shortcut.”


	8. BONETROUSLE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am trying so hard to get through the next couple chapters! I have them all planned out and I'm going to try to make them pretty consistent in length.
> 
> Thanks for all the positive feedback!
> 
> Edited 3/6

You walk back out into the cold and follow the path through the woods. It’s rather beautiful and peaceful, with how the snow drifts down and settles along the large pine trees that line the edges. But as lovely as it seems, you can understand why the Monsters want to leave though. With the stone ceiling bearing down on you, it feels almost claustrophobic

You walk for a long time, or at least it feels like it is. One good thing about the openness in this area of the Underground is you are able to see any Monsters before they see you. You manage to avoid one or two before they see you by tracking them through the powder, but with each passing step that nothing happens, your nerves become more and more on edge You’re walking along when you run into something that looks nothing short of a demon-deer. It’s mouth faces the wrong direction and it walks on slender legs that come to impossible points. Antlers seems to spring from its head, but they end in little pine trees. It seems to have large eyes on its face, but as it turns to fully face you, you notice that they are just markings of some sort, as its real eyes are at the base of its antlers and widen slightly as it taken you in.

You take one step back and its eyes narrow. It’s mouth then opens. It’s even more terrifying with its mouth open, holy shit, and it yells at you. You’re not sure what it’s trying to say, but you involuntarily take in a sharp breath and a step back. Fight or flight, fight or flight, your instincts scream at you, but your body is frozen in place.

It takes one step towards you, spindly legs moving through the snow like daggers and you fucking book it. You twist into the woods before clearing a large girth of space around the area. You peer around one of the large pine trees and watch as the thing makes its way down the path, shaking it's head. As it moves past you, you notice it has an assortment of things on it, some of them resembling Christmas decorations that in your panic and fear had not noticed. It shakes its head again, trying to dislodge itself of some glass bulbs on its antlers and you feel bad for it… It didn’t look like it wanted those things on it, and it certainly didn’t have the ability to take them off. You feel remorse, when the thing looks directly at the spot you hiding, giving you a good look at it’s face again. You can’t help but gasp and turn away and run a bit further through the woods in the same direction it came from.

You pop out of the forest and round a corner and see two skeletons. One is Sans, whom is now wearing an identical jacket to what he gave you. You are so confused about how he got it and ahead of you at the same time. Magic. Maybe quite literally from what you had seen already. He seems to be just listening to the other skeleton who is ridiculously tall. You just assume it is his brother. You have come to the conclusion that all Monsters must be part giant because they are so damn tall. He’s honestly extremely intimidating in person, but you would take skeletons over whatever the fuck that thing was any day. As you walk closer, you hear Sans’ brother speaking about someone named Undyne when they notice you steadily making your way towards them. 

His brother notices you first. His face lights up in something like delight before he turns around so his back is facing you, pulling Sans with him. It looks like they are having some kind of private meeting. Too bad his brother seemed to lack an “inside voice” or something similar, because even though they were turned away from you, you hear every word that is said.

“Sans! Oh my God! Is that… Is that a HUMAN?”

Sans turns to look at you over his shoulder. If he notices how panicked and out of breath you are, he makes no comment about it, instead he winks at you before turning back to his brother and saying, “Uh actually, I think that’s a rock.”

What. The taller skeleton sagged and they both turned around.

“But what’s that in front of the rock?”

“OH MY GOD!!” The taller one shouted, grabbing his face with his glove covered hands. Was he blushing? He quickly turned to Sans and asked, “Is that a human?”

“Yes.”

“OH MY GOD! I finally did it! Undyne will… I’m going to be… POPULAR! HUMAN! You will not go any farther! I, the Great Papyrus, will stop you! Then I will capture you! Then you will be delivered to the capital! Then… I’m not sure what happens next… But continue if you dare!” He shouts all of this at you from about only 10 feet away and then cackles maniacally to himself as he runs away. You really want to feel something other than sick, but you don’t. Was he really doing to capture you and send you away? At this point you think that maybe death is preferable to whatever nightmare hallucinogen you are in.

“Well…” You jump to see Sans standing next to you. Was he personally trying to scare you to death? “That went well.”

You can only blink. You are so terrified that you couldn’t think straight. Sans seems to notice your fear and slaps a skeletal hand to your back. You almost die right then from the shock. “Don’t sweat it kid,” he says walking off.

You wonder if you can just… bypass the two of them.

 

Turns out that you could not. Even though you tried. Really hard.

Every path that did not hold the two brothers instead held anthropomorphic dogs wielding very real weapons. You for the most part manage to pass by unscathed, but as most things seemed to be down here in the under-hell, everything quickly went to shit.

The first dog you meet, you are pretty sure is high on something. Even though you’re holding back tears, you manage to defeat him by standing still and petting him when he wasn’t looking. All the dogs can be defeated in this manner you find. You guessed that dogs were still dogs even when they were taller than you and wearing armor. Although the one dog you had pet for so long that you swear that his neck was getting longer and longer before you stopped and it ran off. That had been really bizarre but it had relaxed you quite a bit, so you weren’t complaining.

Then, on the other hand, there were the “traps”. The first trap laid out by Sans brother, Papyrus you now knew, was some kind of electricity field. But the guy walked straight through it to give you a special orb which made it exceptionally easy to complete because you could just follow his footsteps through the thing. He had seemed sincerely impressed with your efforts though and Sans had seemed pleased too. You supposed as long as they were pretty harmless like that it wouldn’t be too bad.

But the farther you got, the more complex the puzzles got. (Except for the “trap” with the frozen spaghetti and random microwave. You were honestly a little sad about that. Spaghetti is like, your favorite meal.) You knew Sans had been messing with you with the Junior Jumble thing. The x and o puzzles had been simple enough as well. But the randomly generated puzzle was honestly anxiety inducing. You had been so lucky that all the tiles accidently turned to pink and red.

When you got to the bridge though you about shit yourself. As if the rickety wooden bridge hundreds of feet over the ground wasn’t absolutely terrifying to begin with, Papyrus has said that it was his “Gauntlet of Terror” and pressed a button to reveal a shit ton of weapons pointing at you. You looked to Sans for help and noticed that even his normal grin was replaced with a look that was a little wary.

“I. AM. ABOUT TO DO IT!” Papyrus had screamed but never pressed the button. Was this karma? Maybe. But even Papyrus seemed a little concerned about the puzzle too and stalled.

“What’s the hold up bro?” Sans asked, a little bead of sweat appearing on his forehead. How was that even possible you wondered. 

“Hold up? What hold up? I am about to activate it!”

Your mouth was dry. Was he fucking with you? Papyrus seemed like a really nice kid, but you had only known him for maybe an hour. Maybe he was. You deserved it in the end, you supposed.

“Well, uh, that doesn’t look very activated to me.”

“Hmm…” Papyrus contemplated while looking from your cowering figure to his brother and back. “Well… That’s because this puzzle would be too easy to capture the human with! Yeah! I’m a skeleton with standards! My puzzles are very fair, and my traps are expertly cooked! But this has no class! Away it goes!”

Papyrus turned away from you and let out a sigh of relief that you yourself repeated. Even Sans looked a little better. His smile more genuine. Papyrus turned around and noticed you staring at them both.

“What are you looking at? This is another decisive victory for Papyrus!” He practically screamed, at you before running away. 

You let out a shaky laugh at the situation, then slowly finished crossing the bridge. Of course there had to be a bridge on your way to freedom. You were absolutely horrified of heights. On the other side you saw that Sans looked relieved as well.

“I don’t know what my brother is going to do now. If I were you, I’d make sure I’d understand blue attacks,” he warned. You pretended to not be worried by the implications but you knew exactly what he was talking about. The attacks where the magic glowed blue instead of whatever normal color it should have been. You just had to stand still when they occurred. Sans had given you a really bizarre description of them comparing them to blue stop signs. You gave him a nod and kept up your pace.

Upon entering Snowdin you felt a mixture of awe and unease. There were lots of furry creatures that reminded you of animals from Above. Many of them watched you warily, so instead of talking to them you just rushed past. You didn’t want to fight any of them.

But when you finally thought you were out of the town, you entered a thick rolling fog, like the kind from cheesy horror films. In it was Papyrus. He was challenging you to a fight. 

You were not filled with determination. You instead were filled with fear.


	9. BONETROUSLE PT.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to get through a lot of Papyrus stuff in this chapter, but the length was getting pretty long so I decided to split it in half again! It's still near my idea word count, so we all good.
> 
> Edited 3/12

So maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad, you thought. After dealing with the vertigo for the millionth time that day, you stumble a bit before righting yourself. You quickly survey the area. No one was around, not even Sans, the bastard. He said he was going to keep an eye out for you. You supposed that you couldn’t trust someone that much since you had only known him for a couple hours at most. But he gave you his jacket! Really you were getting a lot of mixed messages here. Anyway, as exhausted as you were,bone-tired actually, it wasn’t so bad. Papyrus was honestly letting you go pretty easy. You could step over his low, slow-moving bone attacks for the most part and, even though he seemed to want to capture you, he was cheering you on anyway. But his positive spirit made the weight of the knife in your pocket even more prominent.

During the beginning of the fight you had said something along the line of, “I don’t really want to fight you. We should be friends instead” which Papyrus seemed to misconstrue this as “I am totally enamored with your person. Please date me.”

“Oh… You’re flirting with me? I am a skeleton with very high standards!” He had responded in kind. Honestly, the first thing to come to your mind was, “I can make spaghetti.”

“YOU’RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!”

Wow, if only this had worked on people you liked Aboveground. 

Things slowly but surely got worse after that.

Even though Papyrus seemed to be having a moral conflict of whether to capture you or have a date with you, his attacks were getting harder and harder to dodge. You were not really that athletic to begin with, and the small bones that slowly hovered to you had turned into sets of moving bones that you had to time your dodge very carefully with which wouldn’t have been easy to you, even on a good day. So it wasn’t a big surprise when the first bone did manage to make contact.

It threw you to your butt and you couldn’t help but stare at Papyrus. It had hit your chest squarely, knocking the breath out of you. You struggled to regain it, even as Papyrus told you that you just needed to jump higher. You could see through his bluff though: He was obviously worried about the smack that sent you flying. You eventually stood up again, rubbing your chest. Your chest hurt of course but your poor already strained mind seemed to not notice it and instead helped you manage to dodge two more similar attacks. Your breath was slightly wheezy, and you were sure you’d have a bruise, but otherwise you were okay.

“I’m going to use a special attack soon!” Papyrus then announced, not so subtly warning you, and you figured he meant the blue attacks that seemed to be common in monsters in this part of the Underground. You could, for the most part, handle blue attacks. “Yes. Very soon I will use it!”

And when he used it you were stunned. It wasn’t like the blue attacks like the others. Instead you felt like gravity was pressing more heavily on you than before. You took a look at your hands and noticed that you were indeed glowing a dark blue color. You are going to have a bad time. You could feel it in your bones.

Papyrus kept throwing bones at you, but whatever this attack was, it was making a lot harder to move. You kept being knocked over by his attacks, left and right, and you were just so tired...

“Papyrus,” you wheezed. “I don’t want to fight you. Please let me leave.”

His face looked conflicted. “No Human! I must capture you to become part of the Royal Guard! Even with your feelings for me, I can’t forget my duties!” he threw another bone at you, and before you had time to think, it hit you squarely in the stomach. Black moved in from the edges of your vision and you then passed out.

When you woke up you were in a small room with concrete floors and wooden walls. To your immediate right was a gate, much like the one on the bridge, with bars far too wide to actually hold anything in. Was this how Papyrus planned on keeping you till he gave you to the Royal Guard? 

You felt kind of miffed about it actually. You had been placed on an old dog bed, and in front of you was a dog bowl full of dog food. You could even see an old dog toy not to far to your left! Near the bowl was a note. It said:

_“Dear human, do not worry! I am contacting the Royal Guard as we speak and they will come and collect you! While you are here, please feel free to enjoy the accommodations, designed by the Great Papyrus himself! Do not try to escape,_  
Nyehfully yours,  
The Great Papyrus” 

You are sure in any other situation you would find this incredibly humorous (aha skeleton joke). But currently, you were not, in fact, having any of this shit. In fact, that cold, empty feeling that you were becoming so used to was replaced with white hot rage. 

You stood up with purpose. (After taking a while to adjust to your aching body) and stomped out of the cell. You were going to find Papyrus and give him a piece of your mind! Maybe Sans too. He was not helping you nearly as much as you thought he was going to. But after leaving the cell, which actually seemed to be a garage, your bravado faded. 

Papyrus was trying to contact the Guard so they could take you in. Toriel had said that Monsters wanted to kill you, and even Sans had confirmed that humans were hunted. This thought is even more terrifying when you reach into your pocket and find that the swiss-army knife, your only means of protection is this crazy world, is missing. It must have fallen out when you passed out. Okay. New plan. Get the fuck out of here and scram before anyone even knows you're missing. Screw the weird skeletons and their weird fetishes. (Heh, that was a good one. Fuck. Now you were making puns like Sans.)

You don’t make it too far though. Papyrus was apparently on his way to meet the Royal Guard. And apparently, the Guard were the same way as the exit. So you literally run straight into Papyrus and end up in battle again, the whole time glancing around the area trying to spot the red handle amongst the chaos.

But this time round, Papyrus starts off with the blue attack. The blue attack is your weakness and he knows it. But you grit your teeth you remind him, gently, about the date (He is still absolutely floored about it) and continue to dodge the bones to the best of your ability. Honestly though, knowing what was held in store for you makes predicting the attacks and knowing where to move to dodge a lot easier.

It takes a while, and you are thoroughly winded again, when Papyrus decides that he was going to “spare” you. You let out a breath of relief and accept his mercy. Papyrus looks pretty bummed that he was not going to get into the Royal Guard and he wasn’t going to get any new friends. You quietly tell him that you’ll be his friend.

“Oh gee! Friendzoned and we haven’t even had our date yet!” He blurts out and you literally can’t help but to stare at him. You’re not sure he really realizes the full intent of what he said. You suppose your staring makes him uncomfortable, so he continues quickly, “Please feel free to come over whenever human! Then we can have that date!”

He bounds off towards Snowdin with impressive speed and energy. You are extremely jealous of both his energy and his good mood. You look up towards the imitation sky. You can tell it’s getting late, even without the sun to confirm it for you. You are extremely exhausted again, the fight and sleeping on a dog bed in a concrete garage did not help.

You suppose you could stay at the inn for the night, you remember seeing one as you rushed through town. You almost immediately nyx the idea. People for the most part had looked at you warily, and you weren’t sure how much they knew. If they knew if you were a human or not, you weren’t sure of the consequences, plus you didn’t have anyway to defend yourself now. You do one last glance over of the area and sigh. Looks like more snow had fallen last night. You were never getting that knife back again. Oh. And then there was that little issue with money. And food. You didn’t think you had enough money to pay for both of them.

You let out a deep sigh. Looks like you were going on that date anyway.


	10. DATING START

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that is update is so late... This week has been difficult. especially with my grandfather in the hospital. But either way! I have the next coupld chapters planned out and ready for writing! Please enjoy!
> 
> Edited 3/12

You make your way back to Papyrus’s and Sans’s house. It’s a cute little house in all honesty, with little red and green christmas lights trailing across the roof and windows. You knock on the door gently.

“ONE MINUTE!” You hear Papyrus scream at you from inside. A loud clash of noise happens and you hear steps rushing to the door. You step back as it opens and find Papyrus peeking his skull out of the crack. As soon as he notices you, his face, quite literally, lights up. Are those shojo-esk sparkles floating around his head? “Ah Human! Have you came here for your date with me?”

You give him a silent nod and smile, you hope it doesn’t look too forced.

Papyrus seems even more flustered and his face turns orange. Blush? Must be the weird monster magic they had, you conclude. He shoves the door wide open and it bangs against the outside of the house. He ushers you in with a, “Oh in that case, come on in!”

You walk in and look around awkwardly. You are not quite sure what to do and as Papyrus comes in to stand in front of you, he looks just as lost. Neither of you know what you’re doing in this situation it seems. Eventually Papyrus speaks up, “Well, I suppose as a host I should show you around the house and then we commence the dating!”

You can’t help but chuckle at his enthusiasm. It does make you feel a bit more at ease, even though you are, more or less, doing this to mooch off of him. You do honestly feel terrible about it, but what else could you do? You don’t have any other options and your can’t go back. (Thinking about the Ruins and what you did there makes your stomach roll and you have to fight back the fear and guilt afterwards.) You do eventually start to wander around the quaint, little house as Papyrus walks behind you talking about certain things you seem interested in. Some of the highlights include: A sink that only Papyrus or other giant monsters could reach, Sans’s pet rock covered in sprinkles, a dirty old sock with a series of post it notes from the brothers to each other, a joke book that has a science book inside it and then another joke book inside that and…. yeah. There was a lot of interesting stuff at their little house, but overall it was still pretty normal. Or at least recognizable. You even find a little bathroom hidden away underneath the stairs (Which you do use. Why do skeletons have a bathroom anyway? You don’t ask.)

Eventually you wander up the stairs. There are only two doors on the top floor, one which Papyrus introduces as his own bedroom, and another with glowing lights under that shine out from the door is Sans. You are generally curious about the lights, but reserve to ignore them. You aren’t really sure if you want to deal with Sans anymore anyway. 

“If you’re ready, you can come see my room!” Papyrus states as you move back over to the stairs. “Then we can do... whatever people do when they date?” He forms it as a question, which makes you question the whole idea. How old was Papyrus? He’s never had a date before? (You in fact have only ever had two so you immediately refrain from asking him. Honestly, other than eating out or seeing movies, you weren’t quite sure about dates yourself.) You nod, and he almost literally shoves you into his bedroom with excitement.

The room is pretty large and you are not sure how else to discribe it but “filled with nerdy things from the 90s”. It is probably the closest description you can find. He has a rug with flames on it, a pirate flag, a shit ton of action figures, and a race-car bed. You are not jealous of his race-car bed. Not at all.

“So… if you’ve seen everything, do you want to start the date?” Papyrus nervously asks. You nod.

What happens next can only be described as a dating show mixed with a fighting game. You don’t know what to do and Papyrus is winging it on the fly apparently. You find during this time, that his fashion sense is as eclectic as his personality and that you severely underestimated his love for spaghetti. He also seems to think that you are madly in love with him, which is funny and weird. But you might be, in a completely “you pure innocent soul” kind of way.

Eventually he brings you a plate of spaghetti that you are at first overjoyed about but when you look at it you are terrified. It looks really off. The noodles are brown on certain parts and the sauce looks like it has sparkles in it. You look at Papyrus and notice that he is staring at you expectantly, and not wanting to the skeleton down, you take a small bite. It’s stone cold and the taste is indescribable. You can’t help but to wince as you swallow. You worry that you might have offended him but Papyrus seems even more excited about now.

“What a passionate face! You must really love it!” Papyrus exclaims. The weird sparkles are flying from his face again. “But… I have something to tell you.” What happens next goes down about like this: Papyrus doesn’t seem to like you in the same way he thinks you like him so he “lets you down gently” and you end up having the weirdest friend-zone experience ever. Internally you are pretty happy about it though. It means that you don’t have to hurt his feelings and that is probably worth it. 

Papyrus is nice enough to let you stay though. You thank him so many times that his face is bright enough to find in a white-out snowstorm. “Human! Your thanks are welcome but it is no trouble! We are friends now, and that’s what friends do!”

The comment stuns you. It makes you feel incredibly guilty. Were you really his friend? Did you deserve to be? Probably not. If he knew what you did… what you were, he would throw you out into the cold. You would deserve that, and the thought makes you quieter than you already had been.

Papyrus shoos you to the couch, which jingles when you sit on it, and you turn the television on to some weird program. Was that a robot hosting it? Yeah… it was. Eventually you hear Papyrus clanging about in the kitchen again and you only assume he was making an evening meal. You hoped that it would be more appetizing than the cold spaghetti he tried to feed you earlier.

 

You’re halfway dozing when you hear the door to the house open. You turn around to look at the door to see that it’s Sans. You’re halfway through a wave when he looks up and catches your eye. His expression is dark, even though there is a smile plastered to his face. Your stomach drops and a wave a nausea floats over you. A voice inside your head screams that “he knows what you did, dear god he knows”. You quickly turn and sit back down on the couch. You force your eyes to the screen in an effort to appear busy. You hear Papyrus and Sans talking about their days but you don’t really want to. You want to sink into the weird jingly couch and suffocate. Alas, Papyrus calls you to dinner and even though you had been starving, you don’t really feel like eating anymore.

The dinner is awkward because you can feel Sans’s eyes on you as you push around the spaghetti on your plate. If Papyrus notices, he does not comment on it, instead he excitedly tells Sans about both of yours “date” and that he let you down easy. Sans makes enough comments and weird puns to keep the conversation going but you can tell he’s doing it for Papyrus, not you.

As the dinner ends, Papyrus looks at you and asks, “What is wrong Human? You hardly ate any of the spaghetti I made!”

“I’m not that hungry, uh, after eating during our date,” you manage to tell him with a small smile. That seems to pacify him and he takes your plate and puts it in the sink.

“I understand Human! You are too small to handle large quantities of food!” He laughs before asking if you would like to watch a movie before bed. You numbly nod and make your way over to the couch that Sans is currently sitting on.

He’s plopped square dead in the middle so you sit on the side closest for the door. He turns to look at you and with the same creepy look asks, “What are you doing so far away? I don’t bite… much.”

You can’t help but stare at him with wide eyes, but manage to scoot a little closer to him and not look like you’re trying to perch on the arm of the couch. You are highly grateful when Papyrus comes over and tells Sans that he wants to sit next to his new friend. Bless Papyrus. He is way too good for this world. Papyrus then turns the tv on and changes the channel till it shows some weird movie. You settle in for a long and stressful night.


	11. DANGER MYSTERY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ENJOY THIS FEELS TRIp
> 
> Edited 3/12

The first movie passes in what can only be described as the most uncomfortable silence you have ever sat through. Yes, Papyrus’s eyes are on only on the tv, so you suppose it was only awkward to you and Sans. Or maybe just you because you swore you could feel Sans’s eyes on you, even though when you snuck glances at him his sockets were dark.

The first movie ends and Papyrus giddily claps his hands. “Human! Wasn’t that movie wonderful?”

You barely have time to agree or disagree when the announcer says states that the sequel is coming on after it. Papyrus squeals again and says, “Oh good! I love this one even more!” So you end up agreeing to watch this one as well.

Halfway through the movie, you notice that Papyrus is out cold. Sans, on the other side of him has his eye-sockets half lidded. You aren’t sure how that works, and you aren’t really in the mood to ask and find out why. Instead you sink deeper into the couch and close your own eyes. You don’t think you’re going to actually fall asleep but… fake it till you make it, right?

You’re lightly dozing when you hear the tv snap off. It wakes you up but you don’t open your eyes. You don’t really want to face whoever it was, just in case it was Sans.

“Hey… hey bro. Come on. TIme for bed.” It is Sans, and your heart leaps to your throat as you recognize his voice. Next to you, you feel Papyrus shift.

“Huh.. Sans? Oh, the Human.” It’s the quietest you’ve ever heard him speak. It surprises you to hear him be so soft. It surprises you even more when he gently lifts your head up and angles you to lay better on the couch. “There, now my new friend will be comfy tonight!”

“Uh… yeah. Let’s just get you to bed, hm? You still want that story?”

“Of course!” 

And then silence. You lay there still in the silence for quite a while before you move yourself into a more comfortable position and bury your head into the pillow. You don’t know how or when, but you do eventually pass out.

 

You’re in the Ruins again, but the walls are covered in vines with golden flowers. Each flower has a face and they mock you endlessly. Their voices string together until it becomes like a drone, edging on your nerves and making you shake. 

You turn around and in front of you is an ash pile… Toriel’s ash pile. You can see her robes clearly through the large amount of dust.

“No.” 

You look at your hands, in it they clutch the small swiss-army knife you had used to kill her with.

“No.”

You try to throw the knife, drop it, anything, but the knife seems to be glued to your hands. The chanting of the flowers gets louder and louder. You want to scream. You want to run. But you can’t do anything because something is holding you in place. You shut your eyes tightly. 

“No!”

 

Then you wake up with a start. You have to bite back a scream but then you immediately start crying. You have to bite on one of your fingers to stop from sobbing too loud, but you manage to stifle them well enough. After a while you do manage to calm yourself down. You’re still scared, in fight or flight mode, but your grip on reality is returning and the quietness of the house is peaceful compared to the droning of the golden flowers from your dream.

You take a trip to the bathroom and afterwards you feel quite a bit better. You walk back out and looks at the mess of blankets and pillows on the couch. You take a quick peek at your phone and notice that it is only 3:30 in the morning. You think that maybe you should try and get some more rest, but you know that it’s a fruitless endeavor. You instead start folding up the blankets and placing them on top of the pillow. 

It’s then you make the decision to leave. 

It’s not easy. You’re scared and the kindness that the Skeleton brothers, even Sans, has showed you has you feeling more than a little guilty. They’d probably be better off without you anyway, and you sit down to toe on your boots again. You grab your backpack and fish out one of the two remaining granola bars. You also pull out a small scrap of paper and a pencil. You should leave at least Papyrus a note that you left and didn’t just disappear or something. You care about his feelings and you are already starting to have second thoughts about leaving right now anyway.

But you are determined leave anyway, because that’s what’s best you think. You even draw him a little doodle of him in the corner. You add Sans as an afterthought because you think Papyrus would like it. Then you shove the rest of the granola bar in your face before leaving the note on top of the blankets and repacking your stuff. 

You are still wearing Sans’s jacket and you briefly consider taking it with you. Who knows how cold it was out there right now? But you already feel like you’ve overstayed your welcome, and you’re pretty sure Sans would like his jacket back, so you throw it over the back of the couch. You’re already missing its warmth, but you head back out into Snowdin.

You walk as fast as you can through the rest of town and the path to the next town. Eventually, even though you have lost most feeling in your hands and feet and lips, you feel the dry, cold temperature of Snowdin change into something more temperate.

The scenery changes abruptly, and you find yourself in an area called Waterfall. The place is gorgeous and you snap a few pics with your phone as you walk through. The walls and ceilings of the cave glitter like the night sky and there are strange glowing flora everywhere. You don’t really take any time to stop and observe anything, more just trying to keep moving along towards what you hope is your freedom.

As you walk a long you noticed a distinct metal rustling in the clearing in front of you. You pause and look around to find that there is someone in a full suit of armor in it staring away from you. Panic rises at their appearance and you can only think that this must be the Royal Guard that Papyrus was talking about. The fact they want to capture you is the only thing that you really know about them, so you, as silently as possible, turn and sneak past.

You think you’re in the clear when you hear the recognizable clank-clank of the armor, and you sneak a peek to see that them turning around. You lock eyes with the Guard, and you sprint. You don’t even think about anything else, preserving your life is most important, and you run as fast as your little legs will take you. But you the sound of metal pounding on the ground getting closer and closer and you are wearing out. You find a patch of grass that is taller than you and you run into it to hide.

You hear them walk around in it to find you and your heart is in your throat. There was no where to go, no where to run anymore. You’re screwed.

You think that you’ll be okay when you feel a hand pick you up the neck of your hoodie. You cry out, but they don’t seem to notice or care.

“A Human! Must have been the one Pap was talking about!” They say to your face. “Don’t worry Human, your soul will be used to make everyone’s hopes and dreams come true!”

They summon a spear in their free hand and you close your eyes tightly. You feel the spear plunge into your chest and you sputter out a breath that tastes like blood.

When you open your eyes again, you are laying face down a bed of golden flowers.


	12. START MENU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rinse and repeat. You can't help but feel like you've done this all before...
> 
> ANYWAY new chapter! Wow. Much excite. Very late.
> 
> Edited 3/12

You instantly sit up and grab at your chest. It feels like someone punched a hole clean through you, but as you look at your chest through your hoodie you find that there is nothing there. You breath out a sigh of relief.

You then look straight up. It hurts your head to do so, but it just seems… right? All you see is darkness above. You’re not sure what you were expecting. You had just fallen down a hole in a cave. You then touch your face to find blood running down your face. You quickly pull off your backpack and find your flashlight a foot or so away. With use of some tissues, you set about cleaning yourself up.

You do this all calmly. Its natural. It’s a bit like deja vu. And that thought is actually the one to give you pause.

You have fallen down a hole into what looks like an underground cavern that you know for a fact you’ve never been down before, yet here you are, calmly working through this? You were literally never calm. The fact that you were calm was causing you to freak out. And now the circle of stupidity is complete.

You take a deep breath. You probably just hit your head when you fell down here and that’s why you were so calm about everything. Either way, you feel… really old. And just tired and a lot overwhelmed. You also feel pretty freaking determined, so you push yourself up. “Come on feet, let’s get walking.” 

You walk down a tunnel and notice that the soft edges of natural tunnel have turned hard. It looks manmade. Yet even though this should be revelation, you don’t really feel excited about it, just like its expected. Soon you enter into a large cavern. Across the way, you can see another tunnel with the soft glow of light radiating from it. You feel like you need to get to that hallway, but the cavern itself was giving you pause. 

You take a few careful steps into the room when a flower literally pops itself out of the ground in front of you. It has a face?

“Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the- oh it’s you again.”

The flower is talking to you and it knows you? You think about turning back around. You don’t really want to deal with this right now. Instead you just raise an eyebrow and bite out, “Excuse me?”

“Oh, you don’t remember do you?” It has a cheshire grin on it’s weird flower face. “Oh that’s great. Priceless really. You know what? I think I’ll just let you go this time. It’ll be so much more interesting.”

And well… that was that? It seemed to retract back into the ground. You stare at the spot where it had been dumbfounded for a few solid seconds. “Curiouser and curiouser.” 

You plod along the cavern to the lit room. It looks like a Cathedral or something made out of purple stone. You feel like you’re missing something. Like something important is supposed to be happening at this exact moment. You ignore the feeling and instead take time to looks at the intricate carvings on the ceilings and walls. They don’t seem to have any specific meaning, but you find them exceptionally beautiful anyways.

Soon you come to a room with a locked door. You look at it stumped for a moment then look around the room to see if there is a lever or something to open it. The only thing you find is a lever on the far wall and some rocks that are grey and raised. You try the lever first, but it all it does is make a soft clicking noise as you move it up and down. You turn back to the stones. Some sort of trap? Or a puzzle? You’re not quite sure but you experimentally walk over a couple of them, and feel them slowly sink into the floor. 

It takes you a couple tries, but you soon realize that the lever resets them and that some of the tiles release a little slower, and that these are the ones you need to press. You end up walking across them in a zig-zag pattern and when you try the lever again, you are pleased when the door opens.

 

You are slowly but surely walking along the halls. There are plenty more of these booby-traps, but many of them aren’t that hard, or have notes or fail-safes attached to them. Honestly? You’re having a lot of fun figuring out how they work. It’s been a while, at least since you graduated, having to really think and use your noggin. Well, okay, you did have to figure out your finances and try to budget your checkbook, but other than that, you haven’t done anything mentally stimulating other than reading.

You do also suppose that you should probably be panicking at the situation, but you really don’t feel scared. You feel like something is supposed to happen and a weird sense of relief. Maybe from not dieing when you fell down here. Or could be you really did have a concussion or something, you’re not really sure.

Either way, you’re hiking through another passageway when something akin to a large frog literally jumps out at you. You and the frog stare at each other for a few seconds before it croaks, “HUMAN!” And before you even have time to process that a frog was talking to you, a vaguely familiar sense of vertigo moves through you and you feel something pulling at your chest.

In front of you is a glowing red heart. Not like a real heart persay, but like the cute ones on Valentine’s Day cards. It mesmerizing but also disturbing. You’re not sure why, but you get the distinct feeling that whatever that red glowing thing is, no-one should see it, much less touch it. You try to shelter it with your hands. You then look to the frog across from you. You’re not sure how, but the tunnel seems a lot larger now than it was before. You want to run away from… whatever this was, but as you back up, you bump into an invisible barrier. Was the frog doing this?

“Uh…” You stumble for words a bit, you don’t know what’s going on but you sure as hell don’t want to fight this thing. “Hi. Uh… I’m Frisk and I guess you can talk right? Uh what’s your name?” Smooth move.

The frog stares at you before croaking out a “Tiglen Froggit.”

“Nice to meet you… Tig...Tiglen?” You respond, and the frog, er, froggit, tilts its head in confusion.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to attack me?” Tiglen ribbits back. You blink at it, you had considered threatening it so it would leave you alone, but you really didn’t want to hurt anybody. You were a bleeding heart. You literally watched trash bags on the side of the roads to see if they were moving in case there was an animal inside.

“Am I supposed to?” 

“That’s what normally happens in a fight,” It responds.

“I really don’t want to fight,” You say, moving your hands up in, what you hope looks like, a placating gesture. The froggit seems to deflate in relief and instantly, the heart disappears inside your chest, and the weird vertigo you had been feeling dissipates.

“Good, I don’t really want to fight either.”

“Can I ask you what was that?” You gesture to your chest and then the whole room. “The heart and everything?”

It blinks at you and asks, “You really don’t know?” To which you shake your head in response. It looks a little guilty, but explains it to the best of its abilities. Apparently, souls were a thing that existed and everyone, Monsters and humans alike, had one. When you got into a fight, your soul would present itself and you’d have to duke it out. It assured you that if you were this kind to all the other monsters, that they probably would give up just as easily. It did warn you about magic and that some monsters would attack with it. That’s about all it tells you when you hear the soft padding of feet on the stone floors. It hops away as you turn to look to see who is there.

“Oh! Child, how did you end up out here?”

A goat lady.


	13. DETERMINATION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WHOO! I FEEL INSPIRED AGAIN! Sorry this chapter is late as well (i mean even though I don't have a solid posting schedule) but crazy things have been going on! BUT I AM PUMPED TO SAY THAT I HAVE FREE TIME NOW TO FOCUS ON IT!
> 
> Edited 3/12

You feel like you know this lady. You know for a fact that you’ve never met her before (Where would you have met a bipedal goat-woman before?), but you can’t help but feel a mix of awe, relief, and fear all at the same time. t must have shown on your face because she asks, “My child… Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Uh… yeah. Um, yeah.” Wow so poetic.

She helps you to your feet. “I’m very impressed with you! How did you make it pass all of those puzzles?”

“Oh, I just figured it out,” You reply. She hasn’t let go of your hand, but you don’t feel uncomfortable.

“Oh! And that froggit?”

“It attacked me but it was just a misunderstanding. I talked them out of it.”

“I’m so impressed! You are very independent!” The smile she gives you is like that of a proud parent. You feel warmth in your heart. She is now officially goat-mom.”I’m Toriel the guardian of the Ruins. What is your name child?”

“Most people just call me Frisk.”

“Well then Frisk, come with me! I want to show you something.”

She takes you into a room with what looks like an old school training dummy. She stands to the side and motions you to stand in front of it. “Now you’ve already got into one fight, so I’ll just run you through the basics. If a monster approaches you, the best thing to do is to start a conversation!”

The room whooshes past you and you feel your heart thrum in… out? Of your chest. You raise your arms out to steady yourself. You don’t think that you’ll ever get used to that feeling. “Toriel, Tiglen told me the basics already.”

“Oh? Well let me see just in case,” she calls back.

You shrug and look at the dummy. You’re not sure what to say to it, so you think of the dumbest joke you can think of. Complete with finger guns and a wink. “Hey, are your legs tired? because you’ve been running through my mind all day.”

The dummy of course says nothing back… because it is a dummy, but Toriel is losing her mind over your dumb joke, and you can’t help but feel great that she’s laughing at your ridiculous “conversation starter”. You’re soul returns to its rightful position inside your chest and you feel Toriel’s hand (paw?) on your shoulder. Still chuckling, she says, “I think you understand well enough child. If you’re ever in a fight and need help, just call for me and I will help end the dispute.”

You nod. You’re really glad that this lady was helping you out. She reminded you so much of your own mom. Goat-mom. Nice.

“I have a question for you child,” she asks pausing at the doorway to the next room or hallway or whatever.

“Shoot.”

“I have to go home and make some preparations… I wasn’t expecting company, you see,” she pulls out what looks like a really old cell phone. Holy shit it was a nokia. She hands it to you and you are rolling the bizarre old phone around in your hands as she continues, “You have shown great promise with dealing with monsters… I do not mind if you wander around a bit if you do not.”

“Yeah? Okay?” You agree. Honestly you are so fucking puzzled by the nokia. “Does this thing even work? There isn’t any signal on my phone…” You pull out your own smart phone.

“Oh! What a nifty thing!” Toriel exclaims, picking up your phone and looking at it like you were hers. The phone is practically engulfed by her large hands. She hmms and returns it to you. “Yes, the phone I gave you works, even if it isn’t nearly as fancy as yours. It is hooked up to signal beacons set all over the Underground. I think your phone will not work because it is set up to look for the human signal, and not the monster one.”

You nod, storing the information away for later. “Well I will be back! If you get lost or in trouble, my number is already programmed into the phone, so just call me and I will help you!”

You nod again, because you are so good at speaking right now, wow, and she hurries off. There’s only one exit to this rooms, so you follow her out and you see her rushing down the hallway. You feel ready for what lies ahead. Mostly. Well, either way you’re going to because you were stuck down here and you figure if there is an entrance to this weird wonderland you’ve fallen into, there’s gotta be an exit.

 

So get this: you’re wandering around, exploring every nook and cranny of this place, while still solving weird puzzles (And there was a talking rock. Can’t forget the talking rock. The talking rock had made you lose your fucking shit for a solid ten minutes.) you run into a ghost. It’s laying on the floor saying z repeatedly into the air. You would like to… go around them? But they are literally taking up the entirety of the space in the doorway, all sprawled out like they are and you’re not sure what to do. You’re freaking out again in all honesty. A ghost. A fucking real life ghost. Eat your hearts out Ghost Adventures. Each minute down here is a God-damn treasure.

“‘Scuse me, can I get around you please?” You ask as politely and as calmly as you can manage. I mean, you’ve been in a state of losing your shit ever since you left the training-room with Toriel. Each monster is a new thing that turns your small world upside down. You can’t help it if you are easily excitable.

“Oh… oh!” They seem startled and upset and you feel the world turn. You know they are pulling you into a fight. Your soul floats lazily in front of you while the ghost shimmers and seems to blink back tears.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” You tell them. It only seems to make them cry. “Oh please don’t cry… My name is Frisk, what’s yours?”

“Nabstablook,” they whimper out. You give them a patient smile, and they are now bawling.   
Their tears drift toward you and you dodge them pretty easily. 

“It’ll be okay,” You tell them, giving them a reassuring smile. “Wanna hear a joke or something?”

Another rain of tears. “Okay, why does a rogue wear leather armor?” You wait for a beat. “Because it’s made of hide!” You give them a goofy smile and pose. You get a small chuckle out of them.

“I’m really not feeling up to it right now… sorry,” They say in hushed tones. You do not understand what they mean, but the Nabstablook doesn’t attack you and you are okay with that. So you you tell them another joke, “What’s grey and doesn’t fly? A parking lot!” That’s the dumbest joke you know. Why did you even say that stupid joke?

But the stupidity of it seems to cheer the sad ghostie up, because they ask you, “Wanna see something?”

You nod enthusiastically.

They start crying and their tears form into a little top hat and bowtie. You can’t help but to gush, “Oh my god. That is adorable.”

“I call it the Dapper blook. Do you like it?”

“Heck YEA?” You are genuinely excited by this use of magic. You’ve never seen any of the monsters use magic like that before. He chuckles again, and you feel the fight end.

“I normally come down here to the Ruins because there is nobody around… but today I met somebody nice… Oh I’m rambling again. I’ll get out of your way.” And with that he disappears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoyoyo
> 
> want to see more undertale? want to ask me questions or jsut chat in general? Follow me on the tumbles, fudgernutter.tumblr.com


	14. UNNECESSARY TENSION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is actually really long! I'm going to try and get an update schedule going. I'm thinking maybe Wendsday and Sunday!
> 
> Editd 3/12

You are munching on a spider donut (made with spider cider!) that you had bought from a spider bake sale. Yep spiders had bake sales and apparently they made a mean donut, if how happily you were munching on yours was any indication. You haven’t found a way out, but you don’t feel too concerned yet. Toriel has been really sweet to you and you feel like she’ll help you out if you ask.

The phone Toriel has given you rings and you answer it just as you turn a corner to find a clearing with a cute house and with a rather large yard with a dead tree in the center. You see her moving out of her house just as you say hello.

“Oh! Hello my child! Where are you?”

“In front of you,” you tell her between bites. Her eyes scan the clearing before settling on you. You give her a goofy wave and she smiles at you, quickly hurrying over to where you stand.

“Oh! I can’t believe you made it so far! Come in, come in! I have a surprise for you!” Toriel ushers you into the cute home with her hands on your shoulders.You let her because, eh, its late and even if you do manage to find your way out of these tunnels now, you would still have to hike through the woods in the dark for another 2 hours to get back to your car. Your already aching feet and back were not happy but the short walk into Toriel’s home, much less the hike that you would have to take back to your vehicle.

The inside of her house is neat and tidy. She stears you right and down a hallway to the first doorway.

“Here, you can use this room while you are here,” She says, rubbing your hair. You turn to speak to her when her eyes grow big and she sprints off saying, “Oh no! Is something burning?”You can’t help but feel a little uneasy at her comment, but Toriel has been extremely kind to you so you push the thought out of your head and decide to explore the small room she has graciously allowed you to use. 

Inside looks like it hasn’t been used much. There is a twin sized bed, made neatly on one side of the room. Old toys and clothes are carefully tucked away. An old and empty picture frame sits on an even older and dustier dresser. You peel off your shoes and socks and sit on the bed. You pull off your backpack and look through it. You still got two granola bars and a mostly empty bottle of water. Your sketch-pad and pencils are there and it looks like your hand-held survived the fall as well. You don’t have any extra clothes or anything and that makes you huff.

“Hey,” you hear from the doorway and turn to see Toriel peaking in. “Are you hungry? I still have that surprise for you!”

You smile and nod and decide that clean clothes are literally the least of your problems. You follow her out, back down the hallway and into a living area, complete with a cozy fireplace. You sit at a table, and Toriel rushes into a back room, which you can only assume to be a kitchen. She comes back out with a pie and, even though you weren’t a big fan of pie, it makes your mouth water. It did smell absolutely delicious.

“I thought I would make a pie to celebrate your arrival!” Toriel gently puts it in front of you along with two plates and utensils. Her choice of words make you frown, but you figure she is just trying to be nice, so you just nod and smile.

You’re about halfway through your pie when you finally ask, “So what is this?” You gesture around with your arm hoping to convey your question.

“Ah… How much do you know about Monsters?” Toriel asks, setting her fork on her plate with a soft clink.

“Honestly? Until today, I thought Monsters were just myths. Fairy-tales.”

“What about the war?” She looks confused and concerned. “The war between Humans and Monsters?” 

You shake your head. “I didn’t even know there was a war,” you respond, voice soft.

“Oh… oh child…” She looks at you with tears in her eyes. You don’t understand why she looks so upset, but it makes you worry. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Its… its just that. My child. You don’t even know and…” she takes a calming breath. She’s obviously upset about the situation. You murmur encouraging words to her… You don’t understand anything really, but if there is a phrase that you try to live by it’s, “Everything will be okay in the end.” 

You apparently have said this outloud because Toriel looks at you with a watery smile. “Yes it will. I will tell you all I can.”

You spend the rest of the night learning about Monster history, culture, and about why the Monsters were down there in the first place. It’s a lot to take in, and you feel overwhelmed by it all. You go to sleep in your borrowed bed feeling like the world was on your shoulders. These people didn’t deserve to be down here. You end up crying yourself to sleep over these poor people.

 

The next morning you wake up and find a bathroom down the hall from the small room you slept in. There you relieve yourself and look at the shower. You figure it couldn’t hurt and so you clean up yourself and borrow a towel and a brush on the counter. Your hair is a mess and you are mourning the loss of your makeup. Without what you call your “face” you feel a lot more vulnerable and exposed. It’s stupid, but who says you weren’t stupid? 

You sigh at your reflection and pull the clothes that you had on yesterday. They didn’t smell (thank God) and only the pants were a little dirty. You’re okay with that. Not like you had an extra set or anything. Some deodorant would be nice though.

You wander out to the living area again and find Toriel is already up and reading, a fire going in the fireplace again. You nod at her as she wishes you good morning, then sink to the carpet in front of the fireplace. It’s not that you weren’t a morning person that has you feeling sullen and groggy, it’s more because of the emotional and physical drain that has you this way.

“Would you like another slice of pie?” Toriel asks you softly, as she sees your struggle keeping your eyes open. You give her another nod and she goes to grab it. While she is gone you look at your phone. It says that the time is around 8:30 aboveground and you feel guilt bury in your gut. Your family was probably worried sick about you. 

You run a hand over your face. A quick meal with Toriel and then you’d ask her how to leave. You didn’t want to be rude, but she has been kind and willing to answers so far. What’s the worst that could happen?

 

You should have known. Like seriously? When ever did something good happen after you ask “what’s the worst that could happen?” Case in point: never.

After you had asked her about the exit to the Underground, which you now realized that she purposefully did not tell you about, she had clammed up faster than Sonic the fucking Hedgehog. You grilled her a few times, and then she ran from the room and down the staircase in the middle of the house. You ran to the room you had stayed in, quickly pulled on your socks, shoes, and hoodie, threw all your junk back into your backpack and ran after her. She was a good deal in front of you, but you caught up quickly.

“T-Toriel!” You cried out, between gasping breaths. (You should really hit a gym when you get back home.) “What are you doing?”

She looks back at you, obviously distressed. “I am going to destroy the door to the Underground!”

It’s like time slows down. The feeling of deja vu hits you again in full force and your throat closes up and your heart throbs painfully in your chest. All you manage to bite out is, “What?”

“Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I’ve seen it again and again. they come, they leave, they die. You naive child… If you leave the ruins they will kill you… Asgore will kill you. I am only trying to protect you! Is living here with me so bad?” She begs you.

You feel disoriented. You can’t understand what is happening. You just shake your head and whisper, “I need to go home.”

You’re vaguely aware that she says something to you, but the sudden feeling of being dragged into a fight. You feel panic bubble in your chest. You see the door just beyond Toriel and her feigned indifference. “I don’t want to fight. I just want to go home.”

She throws fire at you, and you barely dodge. Real terror goes through you. You turn to stare at her. She only says, “Go back upstairs!”

You shake your head and stand your ground. She looks frustrated and tells you, “If you want to leave you must fight me. Show me that you have the strength to make it out there!”

Another volley of fire, and you have to twist to avoid it. The fire comes too close and you can’t help the shiver of fear that crawls down your back. “Stop it,” you tell her. “This isn’t right.” She doesn’t respond and reaches for you. You have to dance back away to get out of her reach. You momentarily consider grabbing your swiss-army knife, but you instantly squash the thought. Just the idea of threatening Toriel with it makes your heart pound frantically and your stomach cramp. You literally can’t even think of pulling out the small knife without having a panic attack.

This continues on for a quite a while. Toriel doesn’t listen to you and you refuse to attack. You’re both wearing down, but you are wearing down faster. You notice that she is purposefully not hitting you, just trying to scare you off. You’re not going to budge. You are going to go home. 

“Why?” She asks, panting. Her eyes are filled with tears. “Why can’t I even protect one child?”

She throws fire and you dodge.

“Just go back upstairs. Now. Please.”

You shake your head. And like that… the fight is over. You’re shaking, adrenaline coursing through your system. Your breathing is harsh and ragged from the panic and the exertion.

“I know you want to go home… But please go upstairs. I promise I will take good care of you. I know we do not have much, but we can have a good life.”

You just stare at her. You give a slow shake. 

“Why do you have to make this so hard?” She whispers, tears in her eyes. She sighs and gives a weak chuckle. “It’s pathetic is it not? I can’t even save a single child. But I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It wouldn’t be right for you to grow up in a place like this.”

“Toriel…” You start. You realize you’re crying. She gets down on one knee and opens her arms to you.

“My expectations… My loneliness… My fears… For you my child, I will set them aside for you.”

You run into her arms, practically throwing yourself at her. You’re crying in earnest now. She holds you tightly and you notice that she is glowing a soft green: she is healing you. You bury your face into her shoulder. She pulls away to look you in the eyes. 

“If you truly wish to leave, I won’t stop you… But please… when you leave? Do not come back… I hope you understand,” she says softly.

You don’t but you nod anyway and she pulls you back into a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo yo yo! Once again, if you want to see more Undertale or just chat, follow me on the tumbles at fudgernutter.tumblr.com!


	15. NYEH HEH HEH HEH PT.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I failed at keeping my updating promise, BUT I UPDATED TWO STORIES TODAY SO....
> 
> Anyway, new chapter! Enjoy!
> 
> Edited 3/12

You’re going to die.

No like seriously you were probably going to die. What laid outside the Ruins door was a winter wonderland… one of which you could not deal with in just your jeans and raggedy old hoodie. You could not feel your hands or your feet anymore, and your nose was running so bad, it was honestly disgusting. You kept plowing on through. You could only hope that there would be someone out here that would be as nice to you as Toriel had been.

Stomp. Stomp. You come across a large branch in the middle of the pathway. You step over it clumsily, not even bothering to try and pick it up. You were trying to conserve what body heat you had left anyway and not make your already numb hands any worse. You’re only about 3 steps away when you hear it the snap of it breaking. It makes you jump and you whirl around to see what caused it. There is no one there. 

Well fuck that shit, you think and you make like a tree and leave. 

You barrel down the pathway as fas as your near frozen legs can waddle you, until you come to a bridge with some kind of weirdly built gate thing? It looks kinda like one of those Japanese shrines… only crafted poorly. It feels vaguely familiar.

“Human, that’s not any way to greet a new friend. Turn around and shake my hand.”

You turn around, your hand already extended, but you stop.

“Are you aware, that you are in fact, a skeleton?” The words are out of your mouth before you can even try to stop them.

The skeleton’s (HOLY FUCK) grin gets bigger and he responds, in probably the deepest voice you’ve ever heard, “Yeah bud, I’ve been one my entire life.” You’re not sure what to make of that, and you really don’t like him calling you bud, but you slap your icicle hand into his only hear the sound of someone farting. 

Your face crinkles at the sound and he removes his hand from yours to show you a whoopie cushion. “Man,” he chuckles, “Whoopie cushions never get old.”

You can’t help but snort at him, a smile on your face at the absurdity of it all. You’d like to make a joke back, but you are shivering so bad, you are surprised you had managed to talk to the skeleton at all. Your head feels kind of fuzzy, and it takes you a second to realize that the skeleton is talking to you again. You look at him to see him wearing a dark expression, but as soon as your notice it, it passes.

“Hey kid, now that we’ve broken the ice lets get you warmed up, huh?” He drapes his jacket over your shoulders and pushes you along the pathway until you get to a service station of some-sort. Inside it is blessedly warm and you jump around to get the blood flowing again.

“Oh man, I thought I was going to be a meat popsicle,” You offhandedly say. It’s more to yourself than anyone else, but Sans turns and gives you a questioning look anyway. You shrug in response and flop down on the floor. You’re not sure what to say to this punny skeleton man, but you figure you should start it with, “Thanks for helping me out. I really thought I was gonna end up a icicle.”

He nods and the grin on his face looks a little more relaxed as he moves to sit on a chair near the front window. “I’m Sans. What’s your name kid?”

“I’m Frisk,” You tell him, and he nods. He turns towards to window a bit more, but you can tell he’s watching you through the reflection of the glass. You’re unsure what to do, so you fiddle with the zipper on your borrowed jacket. Its fur lined and it smells a bit like fast food, but it’s comfortable and warm, so you can’t really complain.

“You know,” he starts off, dragging his words slightly. You look up to stare at the back of his head while he sits stiffly, gazing out the window. “I’m supposed to be on the lookout for humans.” Well that didn’t sound mildly threatening to you at all. “But, ya know, I’m not really interested in catching humans. My brother though? A real Human hunting fanatic. But don’t worry. He couldn’t hurt a thing if he tried.”

He turns to give you a look, and you stare puzzled at him. Was he going to give you over to his brother? What was happening? Why was he giving you such weird vibes? You really weren’t liking how threatening he was making everything sound.

“Oh look,” Sans continues, pulling you out of your spiral of internal questions. “There he is now.” You squeak and tuck yourself under the counter. Even if he said his brother was the pope, you don’t know how much you could trust him with how weird and ominous he was being with you.

“Sans!” You hear his brother approach. “Sans, you lazybones! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Where you off boondoggling again? It’s been 8 days and you still haven’t recalibrated your puzzles!”

You see Sans shrug. “I’ll have you know I’ve done a ton of work today-”

“SANS!”

“A skele-ton.”

You hear his brother scream in frustration and you have to clamp a hand over your mouth to stop yourself from giggling at the bickering. You hear Sans chuckle, and his brother sigh and let out a quiet “why”.

“Why don’t you come in here bro? Take a load off. You’re working yourself to the bone.” You turn to look at Sans who very purposefully ignores you. Was he trying to get you killed?

“No Sans, one of us has to work around here!”

“You sure? I’m pretty sure you could find some work if you came in here.”

“No! I have my own work to do and so do you! So get back to work and put a little more... backbone into it!” You hear heavy footsteps rush off and you let yourself release a small chuckle of relief. You move out from underneath the counter and peek your head over the counter. The coast is clear.

“Your brother seems like a very hard-worker,” You comment, glancing up at Sans before looking back out into the snowy landscape. That seems to get a reaction out of him, because he gives you a proud look.

“Yeah, I know. Actually, I have a favour to ask of you.” You look back up and him. “You see, my bro’s been down lately, and seeing a human would cheer him up. You mind playing along with him?”

You shrug and stand up. “Sure.”

“Thanks. And I’ll keep an eye socket on you.” You’re not sure if the comment is supposed to be comforting or mildly threatening like all of his others. You look towards the door then back at him.

“Uh… So, do you want your jacket back?” You ask. You would probably freeze without it, but the air between your and Sans was so weird, you really didn’t feel like you could just take it.

“Nah kid. The cold goes right through me anyway,” he responds, chuckling and waving one hand dismissively. 

“Oh… Thank you again then,” You respond and head out the door and back into the cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! You wanna know how I more or less headcannon Sans to look, I gots some images for you!
> 
> He looks like this http://fudgernutter.tumblr.com/post/133114378455/i-like-my-skeletons-how-i-like-my-humor-short-and  
> with teeth more like this http://fudgernutter.tumblr.com/post/134148502120/cant-stop-wont-stop
> 
> Also, if you are wondering, I drew both of these images. I am fudgernutter on tumblr as well. I keep the brand going you see.


	16. NYEH HEH HEH HEH PT.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to update at least this story once a week! Also this chapter is a little longer than usual so yey!
> 
> Edited 3/12

You wander back out into the snow and take a deep breath. Now that you weren’t literally freezing your ass off, you suppose it wouldn’t hurt to look around and see what was up. You knew that you weren’t going to get out of this place without somehow breaking the barrier, but you couldn’t help but hope that there was another exit. It was bordering on 24 hours that you had been missing now and you really didn’t want your parents to think you had died like all of those other kids on Mt. Ebbot. You’d remember your promise to Sans though. He gave you weird vibes sure, but he had helped you out and you couldn’t find it in yourself to outright ignore his request.

Clomping along, you run into quite a few Monsters. You run into two Snowdrakes and some kind of demonic deer, as well as a sentient snowman. The Snowdrakes are pretty funny with the same shit-tastic humor as Sans. Ex: more puns. The deer was terrifying for about 2.3 seconds, until you realized that the poor guy just wanted people to stop harassing him. You quickly undid the decorations and then left him some gold to apologize. The snowman really threw you for a loop, but you just politely listened to him talk and then took a clump of his body… Which was weird but you held it in your hand and just kept walking. 

You keep following the path and round a corner to see two skeletons. One is Sans and the other one, you assume is his brother, who are both standing with their backs towards you. You are slightly confused to see Sans wearing an identical jacket to the one he lended you. How he managed to grab it and appear in front of you is confusing. You would have noticed if he passed you along the trail. Magic is the only solution you can think of. 

The two of them seem to be having some private meeting, so you sort of shuffle to a mid-way point and wait. Sans does eventually notice you, and you see him give you a confused look at your outstretched hand and the snowball sitting in it. You shrug awkwardly, and hope that he got the message of “I’ll tell you later”. His brother notices Sans distraction and turns around. Upon seeing you, his entire face lights up.

“Sans!” He shouts. You do not think he has any other volume than loud. “Is that a HUMAN?”

Sans glances at you and gives a half-hearted shrug. “Nah Pap, that’s just a rock.”

You can tell “Pap” is not buying it.

“Now behind that rock…” Sans drawls.

“A HUMAN!” He manages to make the most charming smile and you already feel affection for this energetic skeleton man. “Oh my God! Undyne will be so proud! You will not go any farther! I, the Great Papyrus, will stop you! Then I will capture you! Then you will be delivered to the capital! Then… I’m not sure what happens next… But continue if you dare!”   
Papyrus, because saying the Great Papyrus was kind of long, then runs off, cackling and saying something about puzzles. You turn to look back at Sans, but he is affectionately watching Papyrus’s retreating figure. So you walk up to him and ask, “So… I assume by play along you mean something other than letting him actually capture me?”

Sans gives another shrug. Lots of shrugs with this guy, huh? “Just do the puzzles and stuff. ‘S not hard. What’s with the snowball?”

“A snowman asked me to take a piece of him with me? It was… weird.” You  
squint your eyes at the memory. It was still weird.

“Uh huh,” Sans returns disbelievingly. You can’t blame him. It was bizarre even for this Wonderland you had fallen into. 

“Well kiddo, best not to keep Pap waiting,” Sans says, slapping a hand on your back and causing you to drop the snowman-chunk. You turn to look at him annoyed, but when you turn your head, he’s gone. 

You huff out an annoyed breath and continue onwards. Sorry Mr.Snowman.

 

You find that the Underground, or at least this portion of it, is filled with dogs. Some of them are like Toriel, more humanistic than animal, but others are literally dogs… in armor or sweatpants or whatever. And, because they are dogs, they are just as excitable and just want to be petted. They don’t cause too much trouble for you… well other than the Dog Marriage dogs who were swinging around battleaxes, but that’s besides the point.

Papyrus’s puzzles on the other hand where a whole different story.

The first one you run into is an electricity field that he walks through to give you the trigger, a special orb of some sort. He leaves a clear path that you follow without problem. Papyrus seems extremely pleased, even impressed, with your efforts. Even Sans seems happy, but you can’t really tell since he seems to be smiling all the time. You give him a wave as you continue forward.

The next puzzle, actually it was a trap, was a plate of ice-cold, near frozen spaghetti and a unplugged microwave. You mourned the spaghetti. To be honest, the last thing you had eaten was Toriel’s pie and it was quickly getting later and later in the day. You pulled out one of the granola bars in your backpack. You were kind of surprised to see that you still held two. Didn’t you eat one earlier? You mentally shrugged.

The third was a joke. Like seriously a joke. It was a big empty space with a word search in the center. You looked from the skeletons to the puzzle and just… walked past. Papyrus seems annoyed, it was his “lazy” brother’s puzzle anyway. Sans seemed nonplussed. There was also an argument about what was harder: Crosswords or Junior Jumbles. You said Junior Jumbles because how could you say Crosswords in front of Papyrus? That boy was so sweet he’d give anyone cavities. Sans had thanked you for saying it as well, and after the Snowman bit, you felt a little better after that.

Onwards you found trigger puzzles with x’s and o’s. They were simple and reminded you a bit of the puzzles in Pokemon. There was one with ice and you honestly weren’t even trying to solve it, you were just having fun flinging yourself across the ice until you hit one of the snow banks on the side. But you misjudged the edge of one of the sides of the puzzle and ended up sliding off a cliff and into a large snow pile, you decided that you were done playing slip and slide on the ice.

The randomly generated puzzle did make you a little anxious, but you figured you’d be okay. And when Papyrus pushed the lever to reveal only pink and red blocks? You almost died laughing at the irony of it all. Papyrus literally spun off in exasperation, and you almost felt bad about it, but it had been random right? It wasn’t like it was his fault.

And then came the last part. The bridge. You had stood at the beginning of it and looked to see that Sans and Papyrus were on the other side. You looked from their figures to the rickety bridge and back. You then decided to fuck that shit and turned around to walk back down the path and find a way around.

“HUMAN!” Papyrus called from across the bridge, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“Uh… I’m gonna find a way around!” You called back. You saw Papyrus’s shoulders sag. You didn’t know what kind of expression Sans was making, but you were sure that it probably wasn’t good.

“HUMAN THIS IS THE ONLY IS THE ONLY WAY THROUGH!”

You paled at the thought. You could apparently handle living skeletons, sentient snowmen and demonic deer, but heights still scared the ever living shit out of you. You weakly called back, “Are you sure?”

Papyrus seems to shift around a bit and he looks from Sans to you and then back. “DO NOT WORRY HUMAN! THIS IS THE LAST PUZZLE! YOU CAN BEAT IT!”

Your poor heart is hammering in your chest and you think that you might pass out, but you do slowly but surely take your first step on to the bridge. Then another. And another. Until finally you’re close enough to the skeletons to hear Sans and Papyrus talking in quiet tones. That surprised you: you didn’t think that Papyrus had a quiet voice.

“What about the Gauntlet of Terror?” That’s Sans’s deep voice. You think you would notice it anywhere.

“The Human is already scared! It is not fair to make it worse!” Papyrus this time.

“Hmm… You might be right bro.” Sans doesn’t seem too convinced.

You decide to ignore the short bit of conversation you had heard and instead focus on not looking down and getting across the bridge without fainting. As you make it about three quarters across, Papyrus stands straight and addresses you: “Human! You have fallen into my trap! The trap was to get you across the bridge! And it worked! A decisive victory for the Great Papyrus!”

You stare a little confused at him. You are honestly not sure if that was true or not, but he does seem proud of you and the genuine smile he is giving you makes you forget your fear a little. He then turns, very dramatically, and runs off. You shake your head and finish crossing the bridge. On the other side, Sans waits for you with a smile. He also seemed to be sweating. Very bizarre, but you had honestly seen weirder at this point so…

“I don’t know what my brother is going to do next,” He tells you. He even adds his signature shrug to it, but you can tell it’s still an honest statement. “If I were you, I’d make sure you understand blue attacks.”


	17. SNOWDIN TOWN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have updated.
> 
> yes
> 
> Also, for those of you who are wondering about sansxreader and when the shipping is going to start... well... it's probably gonna be in another 4-5 chapters.... But be patient! I have a plan!!!!
> 
> Edited 3/12

You find yourself in the cutest little town called Snowdin. You are not impressed by the punny name, but either way it lives up to it quite well. There is at least a foot of snow on the ground, and more in places where it had been pushed aside or not trampled down. All of the houses and shops looked like they were made from wood, like little log cabins, and have a cheerful glow around them. Monsters are out and about, doing… absolutely mundane tasks. You had been slightly worried that they would try and capture you, but they don’t. Instead, they smile and wave at you and you come to the conclusion that these people didn’t even know what a human looks like. Most of them seemed to be gathered round a huge pine tree in the center bedeckled in christmas lights and ornaments with presents underneath.

Monsters celebrate Christmas? You chat to a few of the Monster kids that are buzzing around the tree with excitement, and they confirm: Christmas is a thing in the Underground, although its not religious. They also stare at you like you were some kind of alien, and you just state that you came from the ruins (it’s not technically a lie) and that you weren’t sure if things were the same. They accept this answer and you smile.

You’re still rather hungry so you wander around into some of the different shops till you come to an Inn.The lady behind the desk, also a rabbit by the way, is more than happy to hand you a Cinnabunny. It’s like a cinnamon bun but shaped like a bunny! It’s warm and delicious and you feel a lot better after eating it. 

You then leave the Inn and decide to look around the small town. You find a couple shops; a general store, a library, and a small pub. You get a kick out of how the name of the library is misspelled and decide to walk in. You give small wave to the man at the check-out desk and quickly browse through the collection. There are some human books that you recognize but most of them are Monster titles. You see a few are Monster history books so you pick one out and skim through a page. You see some information on the War, about the barrier, and souls. Most of it seems to be information Toriel had filled you in on, but you are sure that there is more to the book than just that one page. You place it back on the shelf and reserve yourself to coming back later to learn more about what was going on down here.

You walk back out into the cold. You haven’t seen Papyrus or Sans in a while, so you continue on the main path until you find yourself in the outskirts of town and back into the forest. As you walk a thick fog rolls in. Through it you can see a tall figure, whom you instantly recognize it as Papyrus. A breeze pushes the fog bank back to reveal him striking a dramatic pose. It’s honestly the most anime thing you have ever seen.

“Human!” He starts, hand on his chest… sternum? “Let me tell you about some complex feelings. Feelings like the joy of meeting another pasta lover, the admiration for another’s puzzle solving skills, and the desire to have a cool, smart person to think that you are cool.”

You smile to yourself. Aww. Was he talking about you?

“That must be what you’re feeling right now!” He says with a laugh. You can’t help but to grin at his confidence. 

“Yeah Pap, that’s it exactly,” you respond. It’s oddly sincere.

“A NICKNAME? Wowie! Does that mean we are friends? But wait… I can’t... Human! I must capture you! Then I can achieve my life-long dream! Prepare yourself human!” You feel the almost-normal tugging on your chest and the world tilts slightly as you enter the fight. 

You tell Papyrus that you don’t want to fight, and truly you don’t, but it seems like Papyrus doesn’t either. He sends waves after waves of bones at you, but they’re only a few inches high and they move slowly. Yet even though he seems to be taking it easy on you, he refuses to give up, and the fighting takes… well, it feels like it takes forever. You hit a lull in the fight and you’re standing there tired and hungry.

“Look Pap,” you start. He flushes immediately at your nickname but turns to more fully look at you anyway. “I don’t want to fight. I want to be your friend. We could go make spaghetti together instead.”

“Are you asking me on a DATE?” Papyrus looks excited. You we’re thinking something more platonic, but you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. 

“Sure,” you say shrugging. He looks contemplative before he shakes his head. He looks rather distressed afterwards.

“Human, I cannot date you and turn you into the Royal Guards at the same time!”

You think for a few seconds, he looks absolutely distraught over everything, to the point that you feel terrible for him. Finally you say, “Why don’t you try your hardest to fight me and I’ll try my hardest back. There is no shame either way if we both do our best.”

“Human you are very smart! And I will not hold back anymore!”

And he doesn’t. In fact, you’re surprised at how much he had been holding back from you earlier. But you’re no chump either and you handle his attacks much better than you think you should be. Even Papyrus seems impressed by your dodging skills.Aas attack by attack steadily moves towards you, you feel your confidence in winning grow. You’re gonna survive this! 

And then, he uses his blue attack and it feels like the weight of the world is literally on your shoulders. 

You were having more and more difficulty moving, but you refused to give up. He tells you he is going to summon his most powerful attack and you can’t help but gulp. You had been more or less okay with his lesser attacks, but you had a feeling he was still holding back. Yet when he uses it, a small white dog that reminds you a lot like Greater Dog without his suit, runs past carrying an absurdly large bone in its mouth. Papyrus looks annoyed at it’s actions and he releases a “super cool normal attack” instead. It is a bunch of bones that says the words “Cool Dude” and you can’t help but to be impressed with his ability. Magic was still extremely exciting for you.

Eventually though you’re both pretty winded and Papyrus decides to spare you, even though it had mostly been a stalemate until this point. You accept this eagerly. You’re really, really tired.

“HUMAN! I will be waiting at my house for you when you are ready for our date!” 

“Oh course Papyrus! I’ll be there as soon as possible. I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” you respond.

Papyrus’s face glows and you see what look like little stars float around his head. You can’t help but to let out a giggle at him and he nyeh-hehs back. Afterwards, he then literally does a front flip directly over your head. You don’t understand how someone could still have that much energy after fighting that long. You clap as he sticks the landing though and he runs back off into Snowdin.

You figure you should follow him back, but before you do you pull out the old cell phone Toriel gave you. You press her button on the speed dial and It rings for a long time before you get her voicemail. You weren’t expecting her to pick up but it still stings that she doesn’t.

“Hello Toriel… Um this is Frisk. I… I just wanted you to know that I’m okay! I made some friends. They’re very nice,” you say after the beep. You shuffle a bit in the snow before continuing. “I hope you’re okay… Good bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow wow wee wa. if u want more udnertale pls follow me at fudgernutter.tumblr.com


	18. DATING FIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm late!!! But with the Holidays and the fact that I'm moving, its kind of hard....
> 
> Either way, enjoy this late chapter!
> 
> Edited 3/12

So you had a date with a skeleton.

It went… okay? Alright, so it was really weird. But you both decided it was best to just be friends. And by both, you mean he friend-zoned you in the most bizarre series of events imaginable. But that’s okay! You have made a second friend in this weird place, and he is super sweet. 

In fact, he is so ecstatic at your newly founded friendship, that he practically begs you to stay. You of course agree, because you didn’t really have the money to stay at the Inn anyway, and Papyrus just seemed way too excited for you to say no. And that’s how you end up sitting on the counter in their little kitchen “helping” Papyrus make spaghetti. 

You watch him as he bustles around to grab all the things he needs for spaghetti. Large pot, spaghetti noodles, tomatoes… were those bananas? You eyed him warily as he pulled down a large container of multicolored glitter.

“What is the glitter for Pap?” You feel like you already know the answer.

“To make the spaghetti pretty! IT’S MY SPECIAL INGREDIENT!” He is so excited about it that you almost think about letting him use it. Almost.

“Papyrus,” you say slowly. He literally pauses to look at you with a wide smile. “Humans… we’re not suppose to eat glitter… It can make us sick.”

“Sick?” He looks genuinely worried. “I wasn’t trying to make you sick human! I promise!”

You wave your hands in front of yourself. He looks like he might cry and that is not what you had wanted to happen. “It’s okay Pap! It’s just human’s are kind of delicate.” That seems to make him even more nervous and upset. “We can make this a learning experience! We can make spaghetti together!” And so you do. It makes your anxiety flare, but damn if you weren’t going to teach this skeleton how to make spaghetti you could eat. 

You and Pap end up both screaming over the now boiling pot of spaghetti. Like literally screaming. It’s mostly incomprehensible gobbledygook, but every now and then there is an actual stream of words that mostly make sense like: “If you stir it that fast we won’t have water to boil!” and “UNDYNE TOLD ME TO STIR IT FAST SO IT WON’T STICK TO THE BOTTOM”. Either way, you both pause when you hear the door shut with a distinctive slam. You both stop to look at the kitchen entryway to find it’s Sans.

“Hi!” You both state before turning back to both of your masterpiece. As you try and get Pap to take out the tomato seeds before putting the mush into the sauce pan, you feel Sans stare at your back. It makes your already high anxiety levels all the more higher. You hope that tonight wasn’t going to be one of those nights.

 

The spaghetti actually wasn’t half bad, and even though you assure Papyrus that “It’s great! Just like you!”, you still can’t force yourself to eat. 

Sans had been watching you like a hawk ever since he got home, opting to sit in the kitchen instead of lazing on the living room couch. The staring is fraying your already on edge nerves, and whenever you take a glance at him he is looking at you with a grin too wide to be natural. A stray thought makes you think of animals baring their teeth in warning. Why did he feel so aggressively negative towards you? You had literally done nothing but what he asked. His overbearing presence was making you even more anxious, in turn making your stomach roll and it hard to eat.

“Frisk! Are you sure that the Human spaghetti is okay?” You hear Papyrus ask again.

And yep. There it goes. 

You’re having a full blown panic attack. Your heart is racing and your chest physically hurts. You’re having a hard time breathing. You drop your fork and abruptly stand up, causing your chair to make an ungodly noise. 

“Hey pal, what’s the big-”

“I have to go to the restroom!” You blurt out and practically sprint to the small bathroom under the stairs. You shut the door without bothering to lock it before tucking yourself into the smallest corner of the room, right where the floor and the staircase meet. You’re curled in on yourself, one hand clutching at your sweater, the other running through your hair. You’re taking deep gulping breaths as you try and figure out what’s got your mind and body racing so you can calm it. 

Was it Sans? Sure he didn’t help, and honestly you should really address his ass-holishness as soon as possible, but you knew he wasn’t really a threat to you as long as Papyrus and you were friends. (It’s kind of a bittersweet thought really. He seemed like an okay guy.) Was it the fact you were in the Underground in the first place? Maybe. But there was nothing you could do about that now. You were already trying to find a way out and you had already planned on a trip to the Library before you leave Snowdin to kind of learn as much about the Underground as possible. Was it your family? No, but it was a contributing factor. Papyrus reminded you of your own sibling and you missed your mom’s spaghetti. 

You can’t figure it out, and not being able to address the problem is making your anxiety spiral out of control and into this mess that you are in right now. You needed to get your shit together and at least apologize to Papyrus. You should-

“Alright kid, what’s the big idea?” You hear Sans growl as he slams open the door. Whatever else he was going to say dies in his throat at the sight of you curled into the corner. His mouth closes with a click. 

You turn to look at him just as Papyrus peers in through the doorway. He turns to look in your direction, his face filled with concern. “Human- Frisk? Are you okay?”

You can’t really can’t lie to him. And even if you did, you’re obviously not okay. You give a slow, silent shake of your head. You’re surprised when Sans is the one who takes control of the situation. 

“Pap, grab some blankets and pillows for them okay? They’re having a bad time right now.” Papyrus nods and turns out of the small room to do as he’s told. Sans then crouches down from in front of the door. He rubs the back of his head awkwardly before letting out a small sigh. “Hey kid, you having a panic attack?”

You nod. He nods back. You think you see him starting to sweat. You don’t understand how that is even possible.

“I understand how they feel,” he tells you, shoving both hands into his coat pockets. “I’m… I’m sorry I’ve been such a bone-head to you. You’re not a bad person are ya? Jus’ scared and confused and ya prolly got you’re own family at home waiting for ya, don’t cha?”

You nod again, slowly. The panic attack is running its course: you’re chest doesn’t hurt anymore, but the sense of impending doom and sadness move in. You’re trying to blink back tears, so you can’t help but to sniffle and rub your eyes. But even though you can tell he’s uncomfortable, he’s helping calm you down and focus.

“Why don’t you come out here and we can watch some movies or something? I’m sure Pap would love to show ya his Mettaton collection,” Sans continues. He pulls one hand out of his pockets and offers it to you. 

You consider it for a moment before asking in a voice that you are positive is too small to be your own, “There’s no whoopie cushion in it is there?”

Sans genuinely laughs at your comment. “No kiddo, just a hand.”

So you take it. You end up sandwiched between Papyrus and Sans on their lumpy green couch eating popcorn that is slightly burned while watching some of Papyrus’s favorite films. The blankets are warm, the movies are bad, and you are extremely exhausted. You’re not even halfway through the second movie when you end up passed out.


	19. SHOP

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY LOVELIES.
> 
> I finally moved into my apartment... but it has given me not a lot of time to do much else.
> 
> I got the chapters planed, I jsut haven't had the time to write them!
> 
> Also, for those lovely readers who also read "Going to Space" I have the next chapter planned for that as well! I'm going to try and get back on track for updating them both though!
> 
> Edited 3/12
> 
> So please, enjoy!

The first thing you notice when you wake-up is that you are exhausted, both physically and emotionally. You suppose it only makes sense since you had been doing a lot of hiking and other physical activity since you fell down. Emotionally… well, it’s not like you had a panic attack the night before or anything. 

The second thing you notice is the loud clanking coming from the kitchen. It’s not the, “someone is loud but is trying really hard not to be”, it’s more like “someone who is loud and putting full force into each movement” kind of thing. You can only assume by the enthusiasm you feel from the couch that it is probably Papyrus. Your hunch is confirmed when he leans around the corner to yell at Sans, “TIME TO WAKE UP LAZYBONES!”

The third is that you really need to pee and a drink of water. So you decide to take care of at least the first of these two issues.

You then stumble into the kitchen to find Papyrus eating leftover spaghetti. As soon as he sees you, his eyes get all starry (literally) and he practically vibrates the table with enthusiasm.

“Good morning Human!” He practically shouts. You’re not sure if Papyrus has a volume button that goes below “very loud”. But you smile and return his greeting anyways. He jumps up from his seat and rushes to the fridge. “Would you like same more Human Spaghetti? I Saved it from last night!”

“Sure,” you reply rubbing your eyes. You wonder if the brothers would mind you using their shower. It would help you feel a bit more… well, human, if you took one. Either way, you watch with half-concealed amusement as Papyrus reheats the spaghetti for you. He drops it in front of you in his very Papyrus-y way with a fork already stuffed into the center. 

“Thanks. I appreciate it,” you tell him honestly before digging in. It’s still not that great, especially since it has been nuked in the microwave, but it fills your belly and you feel better as you start to eat.

“So…” Papyrus starts, sitting back in his chair and pushing around some of the remaining spaghetti on his plate. You can tell he wants to ask something and trying way too hard to be nonchalant about it. You swallow a mouthful of spaghetti and motion for him to continue.

“Are you going to leave today Human?” He looks kind of anxious about that fact. Is he worried about your safe-being? You suppose that he has every right to be, but you’re also pretty sure that he doesn’t know why? You store that weird contradiction away to ponder later.

“Actually… If you and Sans don’t mind, I was hoping to go to the library today? And maybe spend the night again?”  
Papyrus’s face lights up. “Of course Human! Whether or not my brother wants you to, you are always welcomed to spend the night here! You are a very great friend of the Great Papyrus! And great friends are always welcomed here!”

You can’t help but to smile. “Thanks Pap, that means a lot to me.” Papyrus just “nyeh heh”s and you dig into the rest of your spaghetti. “Oh and Pap, can I use your shower?”

 

You end up taking a shower after Papyrus leaves. You wait a bit, wondering if Sans will get up. You don’t want to disrupt his morning routine (if he even has one), but he’s already late to his job according to Papyrus, so after an hour of lazing around yourself you just hop into their shower. 

When you get out you dry off and put on your clothes. You sniff them and are relieved that they don’t smell. You wish you had some deodorant or something down here with you. When you peek into the medicine cabinet, you see a lot of different MTT Brand products, but you’re not sure what they do so you decide that it’s all natural for day two in the Underground. You then grab the jacket Sans let you borrow yesterday and walk to the library.

 

You’ve been at the library for at least 5 solid hours and the books were telling you a lot more than you needed to know. 

You got to give it to the authors, the books are descriptive. Like clinically descriptive. Many of them tell of the horrors of the Human-Monster War down to every minute detail. In fact, some of the things are so overwhelmingly disturbing that you have to take a few minutes and run to the library’s public restroom to pull yourself together.

No wonder Sans was wary of you. 

Yet regardless of the atrocities you read of, the books don’t really tell you anything new. Toriel’s explanation was a lot more concise and a lot less grotesque than what the books. Humans are assholes, Humans spur a war with a peaceful race, Humans win, Human’s decide that almost annihilating another race isn’t enough and sending them to spend an eternity underground is the only right course of action and then proceed to forget about them. Oh yeah, did you mention that Human’s are superb assholes?

You’re actively glaring at one of the college-textbook size books you’re reading when you feel a gentle poke at your shoulder. You turn to see who it is, only to find it’s Papyrus.

“Human have you been here the whole day?” He asks, his voice can only be described as something akin to a stage whisper, aka not whispering at all. He is holding a small pile of what look to be human cookbooks.

“Uh huh, yeah. I guess I got pretty caught up in reading,” you smile and give a small shrug in response. He leans over your shoulder to look at what you were reading, and then scoffs when he sees the thick heavy books open on the table.

“Human, these books do not even have pictures in them! How can you be caught up reading such boring material!”

You chuckle at him and quickly close the books and scoop them up to put on the return shelf. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t very important anyway.”

“Well, if you are done, would you like to go shopping with me? I have decided to look more into your human cooking since you are staying with us again!” Papyrus says. You feel your heart swell in affection. It’s official: you will never let anyone hurt this precious man ever.

“Sure! What were you thinking about making?”

Papyrus has his sights set on making vegetable lasagna. You refrain from telling him that lasagna is basically flat spaghetti, and instead decide to help him pick out ingredients on the recipe list. You’re surprised when the small convenience store actually has everything on the list. You’re even more surprised when the shopping trip is more or less successful and does not resort to you and Papyrus throwing random junk in the basket. Papyrus is amazingly organized about the whole thing. 

The cooking portion is… much less successful.

Bless Papyrus, he makes you go relax on the couch as he insists that he wants the lasagna to be a surprise. You chuckle and agree, plopping down next to a snoring Sans. It’s the first time you’ve seen him today, and you’re even more surprised that he is sleeping again after this morning. You decide not to worry about it, and instead zone out to the TV and trust Papyrus to his own devices.

That was your first mistake. The second mistake was falling asleep next to Sans on the admittedly comfy couch. Your third was waking up to the smell of burning wood and food and screaming as you run to find the source, aka the skeleton brothers’s stove and surrounding countertop. 

Sans quite literally appears next to you, his eye glowing a bright blue. The fire, that Papyrus was trying to bat back with a charred hand towel, flickered for a bit before folding into itself and smoldering. You turn and look wide-eyed between the two of them. Papyrus looks guilty and apologetic. Sans is still mildly panicking, sweat rolling down his face in fat droplets. They both turn to look at you and each other before Sans breaks the silence.

“So… Anyone up for Grillby’s?”


	20. sans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AHHH CHAPTER 20 IS FINALLY HERE! I hope the fact that it's extra long will help you all forgive me for taking so long.
> 
> I have a living room now though! *cries*
> 
> Also still chapter 20 and no shipping??? What is the world coming to!? But don't worry, the shipping will start in the next couple chapters... I promise ;)
> 
> Edited 3/12

“I do not want to go to Grillby’s,” Papyrus states, arms crossed and looking rather indignant.

“Well… I guess we could clean up and try again?” You offer. Sans, still sweating and standing beside you, locks you with an incredulous look and raises an eyebrow. He seems to be saying “really?” without saying anything at all.

“Um… or I mean… I’m sure Grillby’s is nice. I’ve never been there before,” you quickly add on.

“Yeah. We can have a nice meal out. Besides, when’s the last time you’ve even talked to Grillbz?” Sans asks. He looks much more nervous than when the kitchen was on fire, which you’re kind of wary about.

“I saw him just last week!” Papyrus huffs, uncrossing his arms and putting them on his hips. From the look on Sans’s face, you feel like you’re missing something. Something important.

“Pap, I don’t think that counts,” Sans says quietly as he fists his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“I did talk to him! I talked to him for a long time! But I guess you don’t remember that, do you?”

Sans looks from you to Papyrus, looking increasingly more agitated. “C’mon Pap, don’t be that way bro. Look, we’ll get a booth and have a nice dinner and everything. I promise.”

You want to ask about what’s going on but you know when it’d be rude to, and right now it would be exceptionally rude. But you have a feeling that the issue isn’t the restaurant, but what Sans is doing at said restaurant. On the other hand, Papyrus seems extremely contemplative, and he recrosses his arms and taps his foot as he thinks. Sans on the other hand is a hot mess, and even though he is still smiling, you can tell it’s forced from the way the bone crinkles around his eyes. You’d still like to know how that happens, but honestly after the sweating and eating, this is probably the last thing that these Monsters were doing that should bother you.

“Fine,” Papyrus relents. His whole body sags with the decision. He waggles his finger at Sans. “But you better be on your best behavior!”

“Who me?” Sans lets out a jittery chuckle. “I’m always on my best behavior, bro.”

 

It’s very apparently what the issue they were arguing about is once you get to Grillby’s.

The place was a bar. Or more specifically a pub, from the looks of it. Back in one corner there are all the dogs who you met on your way in to Snowdin, on the right there are a series of booths. In the far back is the bar itself. There are a few monsters that look like they’re already way too far gone. The bar is manned by a monster that looks like he is on fire. Like literally. He looks up and waves at your small party. In front of you, Sans returns it. It occurs to you that if Sans is spending a lot of time here, and he doesn’t remember last week… well, you’d like to make a joke about being a “drinking like a fish” but it doesn’t seem accurate. Or appropriate.

He leads you to the right and into the booth closest to the bar. As you pass by Monster after Monster, they all call out to Sans, greeting him by name. They politely say hello to Papyrus as well, and the dogs all look very excited to see you again, especially Lesser Dog and the Dog couple. You shyly wave back at them.

You then sit down in the booth, and Papyrus slides in next to you, leaving Sans by himself on the other side. He doesn’t seem to mind though, and instead looks completely at ease, as he waves to a very drunk rabbit that literally stumbles away from the bar and towards the door. Papyrus is unnaturally quiet, and you look up to see him looking around with a concerned expression. When he notices you looking though, he gives you a reassuring smile.

“Hey there Sans! Papyrus!” You turn to see a kid wearing something like a uniform, as well as rubber gloves and boots. You’re not sure, but from the sound of his voice he is probably around your age. Oh yeah, he also seems to be made entirely out of lighting. You’re trying not to stare and failing.

“Hey there Sparky, you working for Grillbz again?” San asks. The kid, who’s name-tag does actually say “Sparky”, laughs. It’s a little static-y and garbled, but it’s genuine and warm none-the-less.

“Yeah. Uncle’s got me on the floor today. I’ll probably be going back to the University after break though.”

“That is swell! Tell me, how is Hana doing?” Papyrus asks.

“Oh,” Sparky looks down and then away to the door. “She’s… uh, she’s doing better, yanno? Her Dad falling really messed her up. But her appetite is coming back. If you can consider that a good thing.”

“We’re real sorry to hear that. Glad she’s got a pal like you to help get her spark back.” A beat passes before you hear Sparky's laugh again and Papyrus groans beside you.

“Oh man Sans. That’s so bad. Hana is on clean-up tonight. If you’re still here, make sure to tell her that one. She’d freaking lose it,” he’s still chuckling when he finally notices you behind Papyrus. “Oh hey there kiddo! You’re new here aren’t cha?”

“Hi,” is all you manage to get out, with a small grin and wave.

“This is a friend of ours’ kid, Frisk. They’re staying with us for a bit,” Sans supplies for you. Sparky seems to take the lie at face value, but you’re stuck wondering why everyone keeps calling you kid down here.

“Oh! So what can I get for you all?” Sparky finally asks, pulling a small pad and pencil out of his pocket.

“I’ll have some fries. And ketchup. Pap?”

“Oh! Do you have spaghetti?” Papyrus 

 

“No Papyrus,” Sparky laughs. “We still don’t serve spaghetti.”

“Well that’s a travesty! In that case I would like a hot dog meal!”

“And you kiddo?” Sparky looks at you, expectant. You fight back the urge to tell him you’re not a kid.

“A cheeseburger please,” you say instead. You also want a milkshake, but you’re not sure if they sell that here.

“Sure! I’ll put them in and they’ll be up right away!” He waves and moves towards the back behind the bar where you assume the kitchen must be.

“So,” you start, after he moves out of your line of sight. “I have a question… Why does everyone down here call me ‘kid’?”

Sans and Papyrus share a look. Papyrus is the one who answers. “Because you are one!”

You snort. “I’m not sure how Monsters age, but in human years, 22 is an adult.”

“You’re 22?” Sans questions. He’s got that weird, awkward, fake-smile tacked on again. “Then why are you wearing stripes?”

“Is there something wrong with stripes?” You ask, picking at your hoodie.

“Only Monster children wear stripes. Since we come in so many different shapes and sizes, it’s easier to tell that way!” Papyrus tells you.

You can’t help but to scrunch up your face. “That makes… sense I suppose, but… I’m not technically.”

SLAM!

You and Papyrus both jump. Sans is standing, hands on the table, the lights in his eye sockets completely gone. “Are you telling me, that you are an adult human? Roaming the Underground?” His voice is so low, you can almost feel it instead of hear it. You can’t help but to flinch away from him.

“Sans,” Papyrus chastises nervously, looking around the bar. “This is ridiculous!”

“Yeah I’ll say it’s ridiculous. It’s bad enough when I thought they were a kid! But actually an adult? Pap. An Adult.”

“Sans, sit down. Our friend here has not hurt anyone! They just want to go home, right?” Papyrus looks at you with wide eyes. You nod. You’re half-way between scared shitless and completely pissed off. You’re starting to lean towards the later.

Sans shakes his head. You’re not sure if you’re imagining it or not, but you think you see a glimpse of something blue. “Fine. I’m leaving though. Enjoy the food.”

He moves to leave just as Sparky comes back to the table carrying a tray of food. Sans almost bumps into him in his haste. “Sorry bud. I gotta jet. Just put it on my tab. And tell Hana I’m sorry I couldn’t see her tonight.” Sparky barely has time to nod, before Sans is rushing past him. He’s out the door in a flash.

“Everything okay?” Sparky asks, leaving the food on the table. He eyes the two of you nervously. 

“O-of course! Sans just remembered something important he has to do!” Papyrus tells him. He’s a terrible liar, but Sparky seems to make no comment on it. “Thank you for the food! And do not worry, I will pay it off myself.”

“Don’t worry. It’s on the house tonight, okay?” Papyrus looks like he wants to argue, but instead he nods again. It’s only after Sparky leaves do you notice Papyrus is coiled tight, like he wants to chase after Sans.

“I’m sorry Human… I don’t understand why my brother is acting this way. You are a very nice human, and have been nothing but kind to me and my brother, even though he has done nothing to deserve it.” Papyrus speaks no louder than a whisper.

You place a hand on Papyrus’s shoulder pauldron. “Don’t be sorry Pap. You can’t control your brother. He’s his own person. But for the record, I’m sorry too… I… I don’t know what I did to make him so angry with me either.”

“Don’t worry! I will talk to him when we get home!”

“No. I think I’ll do it. If he’s got a problem with me, he can talk with me about it,” you interject, shaking your head.

“Are you sure? Sans can be… scary when he’s mad.”

“Yeah?” You respond, poking at your cheeseburger. “So can I.”


	21. SNOWY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I didn't proofread this so i'm sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes. I'll probably proof read it in the morning though.
> 
> Also! I'd like to point out this lovely fanart I got because of the last chapter! http://betraeyal.tumblr.com/post/137741604772/so-fudgernutter-has-this-fanfic-on-ao3-called-and
> 
> Edited 3/12

The rest of dinner is finished in mostly awkward silence. You try and ask Papyrus about his day and he asks you about yours, but both of your responses are choppy and distant. Both of your hearts are just not into it.

You’re feeling terrible about the whole thing. Didn’t Sans just apologize to you for being a “bonehead”? Was was he taking up the title again just because he learned you were an adult and not some kid? It’s not like you had been hiding your age or anything: people normally don’t walk around announcing that their in their twenties or anything. But things were different in the Underground you supposed. 

Yet that really didn’t excuse Sans’s actions. You were trying to be understanding about everything, especially because you were human and your people had majorly fucked with Monsters. But it’s hard! And you feel especially shitty about it too! Especially when you are the only one of your kind and you’re at complete mercy to these people who for the most part want you dead only to fix the mess your people had put them in!

And on top of that, Sans was taking it out on Papyrus. Papyrus, the sweetheart, had been nothing but kind, taking up for you the whole time. He didn’t deserve the cold shoulder he was getting, especially not from his own brother. When you got back to their house, you were going to give him a piece of your mind! You had promised to protect this precious man, and if that me

“Ah, are you guys ready to go?” It was the flame monster from behind the bar this time. His voice was soft and warm. You could hear him crackling and feel warmth radiating off of him. He held in his hands what looked like a styrofoam to go container, and he quickly reached for Sans’s uneaten fries. 

“Oh! Hello Grillby!” Papyrus greeted him, a small smile returning to his face.

“Hello Papyrus. And hello to you too,” he added nodding in our direction. “Wasn’t Sans with you?”

“Sans… left,” Papyrus stated simply, his whole body sagging. You patted his shoulder soothingly. You felt really terrible about how he seemed to be getting the short end of the stick.

“I heard,” Grillby’s voice was even more hushed, and you automatically stiffened at his tone. How much had he heard? The part about being a human? Was he going to try and capture you too? “Don’t worry. A friend of Papyrus, is a friend of mine.”

“Grillby I do not understand why Sans is so angry with my new friend!” 

Grillby hmed for a bit, still holding the box of fries. “I think that Sans is just worried about you Papyrus. Did Sans ever tell you what happened last time a human fell down here?”

“No… there are… there are a lot of things Sans does not tell me,” Papyrs mutters.

Grillby pauses a bit. “Perhaps this is a conversation you should have with Sans when you get home,” he offers. “I’m sure he only does his best to try and keep you safe.”

“You’re right Grillby, but The Great Papyrus is positive that this Hu- Frisk is a good person! I will solve this conundrum at once! And then Sans will be as great of friends with Frisk as me!” He jumps up from the booth and grabs the box of fries from out of Grillby’s hands as he races towards the exit. You stand up to follow, and as you turn to leave, you feel a warm hand on your shoulder. You turn to see Grillby looking at you.

“I trust Papyrus if he trusts you, but if you hurt these boys, I’m afraid you’ll have to answer to me,” he warns, his fire flaring a bit before settling back into it’s calmer neural state.

You’d like to laugh it off, but honestly you’re so sick of having your life threatened, you just kind of nod and power-walk to the exit. Outside Papyrus is waiting tapping his foot impatiently, and even if Grillby was judging you, you’re glad that his talk with Papyrus brought his mood up.

 

When you return back to the Skeleton brother’s house, the kitchen had a fair amount of work done to it already. The stove is pulled away from the wall, and most of the charred cabinets and woodwork have been taken down, the contents placed haphazardly on the rest of the spare counter space. Papyrus, rushed in and puts the leftover fries into the fridge between the cartons of leftover spaghetti.

“Wait on the couch friend! I will solve this issue with Sans at once!” He practically shouts at you, and then bounds up the stairs, two at a time. You decide if Papyrus wants to deal with his brother, that’s fine. You would just chew him out later and instead sit on the couch.

You hear Papyrus knocking on Sans’s bedroom door. One round of knocks becomes two. Two becomes three. You cannot believe that the freaking asshole is giving his brother the cold shoulder. You’re about to stand up then you hear footsteps on the stairs..

“He just needs some time to cool off,” Papyrus offers, looking extremely downtrodden. You pat the seat beside you on the couch and give him a reassuring smile.

“Why don’t you show me some more of your movie collection?” You offer, as he sits down next to you. “I’m sure after a movie Sans will have gotten over himself by then.”

“That’s a splendid idea Human!” And Papyrus is on his feet and happy once again.

The first movie passes. The second movie is started and you notice Papyrus starting to look towards the staircase more and more. The third movie starts, and you notice Pap is struggling to stay awake.

“Hey Pap, why don’t you go to bed if you’re so tired?” You ask.

“I don’t want to go to bed without speaking to Sans first!” He argues, crossing his arms and pouting. 

“I’ll try and talk some sense into him then,” you say and stand up, stretching. You’re kinda getting tired as well, even though you pretty much did nothing all day, and the anger that had been churning in your gut is dissipated to mild annoyance at best.

You reach Sans’s bedroom door and notice that there are lights flickering inside that are streaming out from underneath his door. You’re not sure what it’s from, but at least you know he is at least in there. So you knock on the door, a quick rap or two and wait.

You’re about to knock again, when you hear the click of a lock and the door opens just far enough for Sans’s head to pop through. He looks surprised that it’s you, and then immediately afterwards annoyed. You can tell he’s gonna shut the door on your face so you just blurt out, “Wait!”

He freezes and locks you with an unimpressed look that kind of stuns you for a little bit. Hadn’t you been furious with this asshole for the past couple hours? You don’t really feel that way now, only ridiculously small and stupid. You aren’t good at confrontation, what the hell were you thinking. You take a deep breath. 

“Look. I know you’re not exactly pleased with me… at all. But like, can you not take it out on Pap? He’s really tired and worried about you and I think you should at least talk with him,” you blurt out in a rush. 

He seems to think for a moment before sighing so hard you hear his bones legit rattle. It’s a little unnerving. He nods and says a “sure buddy” before locking his door and walking down the stairs. You wait by the balcony until you see them both walk back up, and then with a passing glance and nod, you wander back down to the couch. 

You try to wait up. You still need to talk to Sans, but the couch is incredibly comfy and you fall asleep in no time.


	22. MYSTERIOUS PLACE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! We're back in action! Just a quick update, all chapters, especially the first portion, have been rewritten and edited. Take a moment to read through them to get a better feel for the story!
> 
> This chapter is a little short. I've been holding onto it for a while as I rewrite chapters, but I wanted to upload irregardless.
> 
> Thank you all for waiting! :D <3

Your heart is racing and you choke back a scream. It’s dark. Where are you? You look around to realize you’re on the couch… in the Skeleton’s household. You take deep gulping breaths. Weren’t you running from something? You try to remember but… it slips away.

You move to sit up. Your whole right side aches terribly. You must have slept on it wrong. Maybe that’s the cause of your nightmare? You don’t know. You feel off kilter and slightly sick to your stomach. Or maybe that was from Grillby’s? 

You stand up and stretch, joints cracking and relieving some of the stiffness you feel in your right side. You’re wide awake at this point anyway, so you figure you’ll go grab a glass of water or something until the adrenaline wears off and you pass out again. That or until Papyrus wakes up. Whichever comes first.

You step into the kitchen and find Sans sitting at the little table. He looks exhausted. Perhaps more than you, sitting there staring at the damage to the kitchen with a blank look on his face. In one hand he rests his head, in the other looks like a mug.

“You okay?” You instantly blurt out. He jumps and looks at you, the lights in his eyes gone wide. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Sans gives out a nervous chuckle, “Yeah. You really made me jump out of my skin there.”

A pause.

“What are you doing up anyway?” He asks, twisting in his seat to look at you. You rub your arm, shifting uncomfortably.

“Bad dream.”

“Yeah kiddo, I get them too.” He sounds so defeated. “Oh… I suppose I shouldn’t call you that anymore? Heh heh…”

You rub your right arm again. “Hey-” “So-” you both start at the same time. You motion for him to continue as you make your way over to the cabinets. 

“Look, kid- Frisk. Look I’m sorry. About acting like a huge bonehead. A real numb-skull you know?” You let out a huff of amusement as you manage to knock a glass down into your hands and reach up to the too tall sink to fill it with water. “I know it’s not much but… Pappers is all I got, you know?” You sit down across from him at the table, and take a sip of your water to gather your thoughts. Sans is purposefully not meeting your gaze.

You slowly twirl the cup in your hands. “I forgive you,” you murmur, and Sans’s head snaps up to look at you surprised. “Look I… I’m trying really hard to be understanding here. Like shit… I didn’t even know Monsters existed until I fell down here only to find out it was my kind that fucked you guys over royally?” You set the cup down to run your hands through your hair, tugging on the ends a bit. “Like… honestly? I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“Kid… you got a dirty mouth,” Sans snickers. You glare at him.

“Really? Out of all of that, that’s all you got?”

“I mean… No?” He offers, but his snickering turns to full on chuckling. “I mean, shit, you gotta find it halfway funny, right?”

“Please enlighten me,” you roll your eyes.

“You’re a human, one of the things that put us down here, and you didn’t even know we exist? And yet you’re stuck down here with us too? Like that’s some freakin irony there.” His shoulders shake with his laughter, and he runs a boney hand over his face. “And… And the best part is like… you’re walking around in stripes so everyone thinks you’re a kid but you’re just a confused adult? And all… all I can fucking think of is this small freaking kid just saying fuck. I mean… It’s hilarious!”

He’s laughing so hard, he’s wheezing, and he starts rattling again. You purse your mouth at him and just wait. It takes some time, but soon enough he settles down, gasping for breath. “You done?” He nods.

“Sorry. I really needed that,” he wheezes out, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye.

“Glad I could help,” you mutter.

“Hey now, no need to get all frisky on me,” he says with a wink.

“Oh my God,” you groan out.

“Not a fan of that? Maybe I shouldn’t frisk another one.”

“Sans please.”

“What? Not frisking up to it?”

“Sans that was awful,” you say, shaking your head.

“They can’t all be winners,” he shrugs. It goes quiet again. You stare at our half empty cup.  
“Can I ask why?”

“What?” Sans responds, his browbones raising. (You thought you were past questioning his movements, but no, here you are still wondering about it.)

“Why me being an adult is such a big deal?” He glances at his own cup, mug, whatever, and then looks back to you, then lets out another bone rattling sigh. “It’s… a long story. And not a good one.”

You give a one shouldered shrug and smirk at him. “I dunno if you noticed, but I’m not really going anywhere.”

“Oh yeah… barrier and all that…” Sans shuffles awkwardly.

“I was thinking more about that nightmare, but that’s true as well,” you chuckle. It feels good to have that earlier tension resolved. Sans seems like a much cooler guy now that he wasn’t being all weird and creepy about you existing.

“Well… You better get comfy. This isn’t exactly a good story,” Sans murmurs out.

You nod, as you take another sip of water. “They never are.”


	23. PREMONITION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another chapter so soon??? YES! 
> 
> so enjoy~~~

“Well how much do you know? About the Underground and everything?” Sans eventually starts out, waving his hand, gesturing to everything. “You said that… uh… you didn’t know about any of this before, right?”

“I know enough… Monsters were pretty eager to fill me in when I told them I didn’t know why they were attacking me,” you respond, with another shrug. Were you turning into Sans now? Shrug, shrug, shrug. “I also looked up some stuff at the library yesterday.”

He nods, his eyes flickering around like he’s trying to piece together what to say. After a minute or two of silence you take pity on him. “If it helps, you can just kind of… assume I don’t know anything.”

He lets out a nervous chuckle. “Well… You know the barrier, right?”

“Yea. It’s what’s keeping everyone trapped down here.”

“Yep. Seven human mages cast a powerful spell and used their entire life-force to make the barrier,” he speaks quietly, his voice a low rumble. “Those humans… they were pretty crafty. See, the barrier it’s not like a lid,” he places one hand on top of his mug. “If it was it would be pretty easy for us to escape, right? Might take us awhile, but eventually we’d dig and dig, and find the edges and be able to resurface.”

He pauses and looks at you, to make sure you understand. You nod and he continues, “The issue is that it isn’t a lid. It’s a bubble. It’s keeping us in from every side. There might not have been many of us when we first were stuck down here, but now we’ve repopulated… We’ve pushed out the edges and we’re running out of space. But these mages… they were smart, don’t get me wrong, they really didn’t want anybody to get out, but they really didn’t even consider about things getting in. And why would they, ya know? I guess they figured people would remember the War...”

“Either way, there were hypothesi of course. Rumored that birds and other small animals would fall down in here. The King and Queen weren’t sure what it meant, but there were lots of speculations. They hired a Royal cientist, someone to work on providing for the Monsters down here as well as looking for a solution to break the barrier. Either way, years passed and Monsters were starting to lose hope. That’s when the first Human fell.”

Sans sighs and runs the back of his thumb between his eye sockets. It makes a steady clink-click-click sound as he rubs up and down, up and down. Something inside you breaks a little at his tone of voice. You offer up, “I really didn’t see or hear much about that.”

“Yeah,” Sans sighs, taking a deep drag of whatever is in his mug. “It’s… not a good topic… For most Monsters… Especially the King. Basically, The first Human was adopted by the King and Queen. Became a symbol of hope for all of Monster-kind. But the poor kid got sick and died and their other kid absorbed their soul and took their body upside.” He gives a humorless laugh. “Needless to say, the Humans assumed the worse and that poor kid died too. Tore the Royal family apart… King declared War on Humans and the Queen left. He… Uh, he’s why we’re collecting humans. We need their souls.”

“What? Why?” 

“Seven Humans to make the barrier, Seven Human souls to break it.”

“But if it only take one to cross the barrier, why doesn’t he just cross it and come back with the amount he needs?” You ask. “You guys already have one soul right? Humans die all the time. He could go to a hospital or a nursing home or something and take some souls from there.”

A deep sigh. “To be honest kid- Frisk, I dunno. I think he’s worried that if he leaves he might die like his kid… or that we’ll lose Hope. Who knows… Old fluffybuns is… well, he’s kind of a coward.”

It’s silent. You bite your lip. None of this had really been covered in the books. But a burning question needs to be answered, “But what does this have to do with me being an adult?”

“So a few years ago… I dunno, maybe four or five years ago a Human came through. Was pretty smart little bugger. Figured pretty quick that Monsters wanted Human souls or something, and made a disguise. All they had on ‘em was a book and their glasses. Made it all the way to Hotland before the Guard caught up with ‘em. Undyne had only been the head for maybe a year or two, so she told everyone to surround them. Poor thing was probably scared shitless… Undyne told me later that they only started swinging when the Guards started attacking. The Human took one Guard down, injured another. That injured Guard was Hana’s Old Man. He didn’t die right away just… got sick then Fell Down one day before turning to dust.”

“Anyway, Undyne took the soul to Asgore and Alphys, uh… she’s the new Royal Scientist, she got the body. Turns out… turns out that Human was actually only about 17. Not really a kid anymore, but not an adult. I know Undyne feels terrible about it but… that kid, they took down a Royal Guardsmen with a book. If a teenager can do that with a book, what could a full adult do to the rest of us? With a knife no less?” 

Sans reaches into the pocket of his basketball shorts and pulls out your swiss army knife and sets it on the table between you two with a clank. Just staring at it makes you uneasy, but hadn’t you left that thing in your backpack? You’re mouth is dry and you take another sip of water to fight it. Neither of you say anything for a few moments, both staring at the knife sitting on the table. You think you should be angry or something that he rifled through your stuff, but you can’t find yourself to be after the story he just told you.

Finally, you break the silence, “You were in my stuff?” It’s an obvious question.

He at least looks sheepish. “Yeah… That first night.. I, ah, I’m sorry. I just…”

“You didn’t trust me,” you answer for him, you mouth curling into a grimace.

“Yeah…” His answer is soft, and he nervously fidgets with his mug as you both stare at the offending object. Neither of you rach to grab it, the red handle seemingly ominous in the dim kitchen light. It was a birthday gift your father had given to you after you had gotten your jacket stuck on a branch while hiking one year and had to wait for a passerby to help you out, the thing had been so entangled in your jacket you couldn’t unhook yourself with your own strength. You don’t know what to do, take it or leave it.

You sigh, rubbing a hand across your face and through your hair where you tug on the ends. “You know what? Just keep it.”

“What?” Sans asks, blinking like he hadn’t heard what you said correctly.

“Keep it if you don’t trust me, and you obviously don’t.”

“Look, I want to trust you but… Humans ain’t exactly got a good rep down here you know,” Sans offers, not meeting your gaze. 

“I get that.” He looks at you then. “No seriously I get it. I might not have known about the War or anything, but I can tell you honestly from my time down here that as terrifying as some of you might look, you are all the nicest people I’ve ever me in my entire life. If I was lost anywhere topside, I don’t know where I would’ve stayed till my family found me. And if some stranger let me stay in their house with them, I’d probably be dead in a ditch by now anyway. Humans… We’re not the nicest, even to our own kind.”

“Look I owe you and Papyrus a lot. You all haven’t turned me over when I am the last thing standing between everyone and freedom. You fed me, gave me a place to stay, and have been extremely nice to me… I mean, even you, even if you were a real numbskull about most of it,” that gets a chuckle out of Sans, “So yeah… Keep it. Think of it as a loan or something.”

He reaches out tentatively and grasps it, returning it to be shorts. He looks a little less on edge after that, giving you a genuine smile. It softens his features a lot and you can’t help but to smile back. 

You then get up and place your cup on the counter next to the sink, it’s too much for you to try a round two with the dumb thing tonight, and you’re finally winding down from the information and adrenaline. You’re not sure if you can fall back asleep, but you figure it would be worth a shot. You’re about to say goodnight when you hear Sans say “shit” behind you. You turn and see him wearing a nervous grin.

“So about that not ratting you out thing… Uh… How upset would you be if I told you Papyrus might have already done it?”


	24. DOGBASS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter is short, but I wanted to try and make sure I got a chapter out regardless and stayed on schedule. I also thin that cutting it short will probably help it read better with what is happening next anyway!
> 
> Enjoy~~~

There is a whining noise filling the kitchen. Oh wait. That’s you.

“Shit… wait, don’t freak out,” Sans says looking extremely anxious. You cover your face with your hands, embarrassed at the noise that you can’t seem to stop from coming out of your mouth. You hear the sharp scrape of the chair moving against the wooden floor and bare-bone feet clicking against the floor.

“Hey…” Sans says, right in front you now, drawing out the word. “Hey, hey, hey. Look it’ll be okay. Me and Pappers got a plan and everything.”

You feel his hands settle on your shoulders and you look up at him between your fingers. You’ve been this close to Sans plenty of times but this is the first time you are face to face with him. He is one of the shortest Monsters you’ve met, other than kids, but he still is a good head taller than you and much wider, all broad shoulders and barrell chested. He even looks like he has a tummy, which is weird because you can clearly see from his bare arms and legs that he’s literally nothing but bone. He gives you small smile and your shoulders a gentle squeeze, and says, “Please don’t be angry with him.”

You scrub your face with your hands, letting one last whine out. “I can’t be angry at Papyrus. That’s like… illegal or something. He’s too nice. I’m just worried about dealing with this Undyne character. Like, she’s the Captain of the Guard right? From the sounds of it, I’m royally boned.”

As soon as the words leave your mouth, you freeze. Dropping your hands from your face, you turn your eyes back up to look at Sans. His expression goes from shocked to down right tickled in a split second, his smile growing so wide it makes his eyes squint. 

“Nooooo,” You whine out, putting your hands on his chest and pushing, like you can prepell the bad puns out of him before he says them. He’s oddly solid under your hands, warmth radiating. He just snickers.

“What? I thought that was pretty humerous.”

You try. You try really hard to hold back, but you can’t. You start giggling. “Oh, did that tickle your funny bone?”

He actually bursts out laughing, deep, rumbling guffaws that you feel through your hands on his chest. “Bone puns, ya know I got a skele-ton of ‘em.”

“Boo,” You laugh out. “That’s like… the most used bone pun ever.”

“You’re patella-ing me,” Sans chokes out between loud bursts of laughter. You start laughing so hard you snort.

At this point you’re both laughing so hard you’re leaning on each other for support. Whatever tension that was there, or had been there, is totally forgotten, lost to sleep deprivation and bad puns. Tears are literally running down your face, and whenever you sneak a peek to look at Sans, you see that his own eyes are squished shut, mouth wide open as he roars with laughter. His laughter only eggs on your own, and you clutch his shirt to try and keep yourself upright.

You then hear a soft sound, the stairs quietly creaking. You look up to see Papyrus quietly standing there, both of your loud laughter must have waken him. He’s wearing blue pajamas with little yellow ducks on them, paired with a matching nightcap and slippers. You can tell by his expression that he is equally confused and tired. It’s such a priceless expression that you throw an arm over your face in an effort to help reel in your laughter. 

“What are you two doing?” He asks. You muffle another snort into your arm as Sans maneuvers you around to face him and wraps his right arm around your shoulders, pulling you flush against his side.

“Oh nothing Pap, me and Frisk here are just bonding. I think we’re going tibia great pals.”

Everything is quiet except for you and Sans snickering, so you continue, “Yeah we’re… we’re both bone-ified comedians.”

You sneak a peek at Papyrus through your arm. His eye is twitching.

“Aww Paps,” Sans drawls out. “Don’t be so sternum.”

Papyrus loses it, letting out an indignant scream. “I’M GOING TO BED!”

You and Sans burst out laughing again, collapsing to the floor in loud bellowing laughter in a tangle of limbs. You hear the steady thump-thump of his feet of the stairs before the slam of his bedroom door echos through the house.

“Looks like Pap couldn’t handle our ribbing,” You manage to get out, starting another round of hysterical laughing.

It took a while, but eventually you both managed to get off the floor and into your respective beds… well couch on your end, but semantics. It was probably early morning, and your stomach ached from laughing, but the metaphorical olive branch of friendship had been offered and it had been a much needed release from the uneasy situation that you all had found yourself in. You knew that you would have to deal with the Undyne eventually, but right now you felt pretty good about everything. Things were going to work out, you could feel it in your bones.


	25. WATERFALL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is late! I wanted to have a chapter for you last weekend to keep on schedule but I was away last weekend so I jsut didn't have the time to write this chapter.
> 
> I also added a little bit more to Chapter 23 if you want to reread that.
> 
> Thanks ;)

You wake up the next morning with your stomach aching. You pass it off as pain from your laughing fit from the previous night with Sans. You then walk into the bathroom and quickly get ready for the day. You really needed another set of clothes.

After a few moments to try and wrangle your bedhead, you walk out into the kitchen and see that Sans and Papyrus were already up. Sans is sitting at the small kitchen table, eyes half open with a mug of something that smells a lot like coffee in his boney hand. Papyrus is at the stove furiously making... something.

“Good morning,” you yawn out, sitting across from Sans at the table. He startles a bit at the noise, but smiles and waves lazily when he realizes it’s you.

“Good Morning Human!” Papyrus greets, turning around. He’s wearing his armor and a frilly, blue apron. He drops a plate in front of you with what looks like scrambled eggs on it. “I have made you and Sans a delightful breakfast of jumbled eggs!”

Aww that’s adorable.

“Thanks Papyrus,” you say with a smile. He hands you a fork and you tentatively take a bite. It’s not bad really, just a little salty and overcooked. Okay… really salty and way too overcooked, but he’s trying and you really appreciate that. You choke down another bite as he drops another plate in front of Sans and then plops down in the remaining seat with his own plate.

It’s quiet for a while, the sounds of everyone (Papyrus) eating filling the room. It’s a few moments later when Papyrus stands up abruptly, chair scraping, with his now empty plate in his hand. “Now you two, I am off! I will make sure Undyne is distracted for your safe travel across Waterfall!”

He places his dirty dishes in the sink with a clatter, whips off the apron and stuffs it into one of the drawers, and then fucking books it out of the house, leaving you to stare after him absolutely bamboozled. You turn to Sans to find him staring after Papyrus with a fond look on his face, his plate completely empty. You haven’t even seen him lift a fork.

“Is that the whole plan?” You ask as you fiddle with the food on your plate. You don’t want to offend Sans or anything, but… the food just isn’t quite edible yet.

“Heheh. More or less. But don’t worry, Pap can be very persuasive when he wants to be,” he stands up stretching, each bone aligning with an audible clack. “Oh and don’t worry about the food. I know it’s not really… uh… safe to eat.”

“I give him an A for effort,” you chuckle, standing up yourself and scraping the food off into the trash bin. “It’s honestly really sweet he cooks for you and everything though. Reminds me of my Dad.”

“You must really miss your family,” Sans says but it’s phrased more like a question.

“Yeah,” you answer softly, placing your dirty dishes on the counter next to Sans’s. “It’s been a few days now. They’re probably really worried about me.”

And honestly you’re really worried about them. Your Mom is known for her helicoptering and your Dad tends to feed her anxieties without really meaning to. Plus without your sister there to comfort them in person, who knows how things are going. They must assume the worst really, finding your car locked yet alone and untouched. No objects left behind on that trail to even show them where you went. You’re almost glad for that part, you wouldn’t want them trapped down here too.

A heavy hand on your shoulder pulls your out of your thoughts. It’s Sans. “Hey ki-Frisk. Don’t worry. Me and Pap are keeping an eye-socket out for you.”

You give him a small smile. You’re a pretty hard-headed person. You weren’t going to give up yet. “Thanks Sans. Oh, and I don’t mind if you call me kid,” you snicker. “I just didn’t understand why everyone thought I was a child earlier, but it might help if people keep thinking that way.”

“Heh… Sure thing kiddo,” Sans returns with a wink. He walks over to the front door and shrugs on his heavy jacket and slips on a worn out pair of high-tops. “Oh, I left you a jacket over on the couch. It’s one of my older ones so it should fit a little better.”

“Where are you going?” You ask, you can feel your eyebrows furrowing.

“I gotta get to work,” he huffs out, obviously amused. “Look don’t worry. You head over on over to Waterfall, me and Pap’ll catch up.” Then, without another word he walks out the front door, but when you look out the window you don’t see him walk past.

You let out a suffering sigh and walk over to the couch. Sure enough, hanging off the back is a jacket similar to Sans’s but yellow instead of blue. Patches have been sewn onto the elbows and the fur around the hood is worn pretty thin, but when you put it on it’s warm and soft and smells slightly of mothballs and fast food. You then stomp on your boots and grab your backpack, heading out into the cold and off to Waterfall. 

It feels like forever, but Snowdin’s snowy atmosphere changes into something warmer and wetter. You once again praise the hardiness of your boots as the snow thaws and the ground turns spongy. The brightness of Snowdin is contrasted to the darkness of Waterfall’s more cavernous like interior.

Waterfall is pretty amazing in all honesty. It’s like a geologists dream. The river that cut through Snowdin continues through Waterfall and is amplified by natural underground springs that trickle down the walls. Glowing rocks in a variety of pinks and blues stud the walls and ceilings creating an ethereal feeling to the whole place. You think you might be in love.

You wander open mouthed for a while, stopping at one point to pull off Sans’s jacket because the temperature was getting much too warm for you wear it comfortably, until the tunnel you’ve been following suddenly grows into a massive grotto and your jaw drops.

The cave seems to have several different strata to it, with portions producing varying sizes of Waterfalls that run down into darkness. Next to one of the highest layers is a golden reptile Monster kid looking into the depths. He gives you anxiety when you look at him so you approach him.

“Hey,” you call out. He turns around with a jump.

“Hi!” He returns enthusiastically. “Are you here to see her too?”

“Um… yes. Of course,” you answer. You have no idea who he’s talking about, but he’s so excited you don’t want to rain on his parade.

“Cool! We can go see her together!” He wiggles in his excitement, giving you a wide smile. “Oh! Just don’t tell my parents I’m here, okay?”

“Okay? But maybe you should stand a little farther back from the edge,” you offer. 

“Huh? Oh! You’re probably right!” He pauses then takes a few steps closer to you. ”Just let me know when you wanna get going!”

“Okay buddy,” you chuckle out, and move to explore a little bit more. To your left is what looks like a giant goldfish with a fishbowl on their head next to a glowing flower. You wave to them and they enthusiastically wave back, the water in their bowl splashing over the edge of the bowl. 

Moving along a little more you spot something very familiar to you. It’s another one of those wooden sentry stands. What surprises you is that there is snow on the roof and as you neared the stand you had a very distinct feeling of who might be at said stand. You round it, giving it a wide girth, and snicker to yourself when your hunch is completely accurate.

It’s Sans standing there texting away on his cellphone. He hears your giggling and looks up giving you a shit-eating grin.

“What? Never seen a guy with two jobs before?”


	26. CHILL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WHOO!

You can’t help but to snicker to yourself as you walk up to him, fighting the urge to let the grin on your face turn into a full blown smile.

“You know, I’m honestly not sure why I’m surprised at all,” you tell him as you stand directly in front of his outpost’s counter.

“I told you kiddo,” he offers with a wink. It’s a little creepy when he winks like that honestly, the bone above his eye sliding shut over his socket like an eyelid. In fact, all the Monsters down here hit Uncanny Valley pretty hard, but Sans is just so silly even with his cheshire grin and obviously skeletal visage he seems more like a goofy video game character than something that you’d see on Creepy Pasta. His expression turns to one of concern as he looks you over, “Hey, where’s the jacket I left for you? Did you forget it at the house?”

“Oh! No, it’s in my bag. It’s warm enough here that I don’t really need it. Thank you though,” you finally actually smile at him as you rock back on your heels in front of him. 

Sans nods, a hand raised pensively to his chin. “Huh… That’s good. I wasn’t really sure on the whole temperature thing with you, since you know, the cold literally goes through me.”

“Boo.” You give him a thumbs down but you can’t wipe the smile off your face. He chuckles a bit at your reaction.

“So you wanna know what’s good about two jobs?”

“Twice as many people to tell your puns to?” You give him a wide smile and innocently blink at him. He stares for a split moment before chuckling, the real kind that you recognize from last night.

“Good one, but nah. Twice as many legally required breaks,” he winks at you and gives you double finger pistols. You just shake your head. “Seriously though, I know you’re probably pretty hungry. Wanna head to Grillby’s and grab some grub?”

You make a dramatic scene about deciding, placing a single finger to tap your chin and tapping your foot on the soft ground. “I suppose I could take time out of my busy schedule to go with you to Grillby’s.” Then a thought occurs.

“Hey Grillby’s is in the opposite direction of which I should be going.”

“Yeah,” Sans walks out from the sentry stand to stand next to you, hands in his jacket’s pockets. He winks again and nudges you with his shoulder, “But I know a shortcut. Come on, follow me.”

He walks the opposite direction of Snowdin, to a sharp bend in Waterfall’s cave system, and turns to wait for you. You shrug and jog to catch up to him. He continues moving when you reach his side, then you both turn the corner and you find yourself standing in the entryway of Grillby’s.

“What.” 

You are very confused and even more so disoriented. You look from Sans’s smug face to the door of Grillby’s and back. Holy Shit.

“What!?” 

Sans just starts laughing, obviously enjoying your reaction. He turns and walks off, waving to the few patrons already in the warm bar. You take one more quick glance around the area and then shake your head before meeting him at the counter.

“Did you seriously just teleport us here?” You ask incredulous and amazed at the same time. You have a hard time believing it and it actually happened to you. Your boots are still wet and have mud sticking to the bottom of them, proving it despite the fact you can’t wrap your head around it.

“I told you I knew a shortcut,” he offers with a one shoulder shrug all nonchalant like.

“You just teleported!? Us!? This literally must be the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. Ever. In my entire life,” you sit on the bar stool, feet dangling. Sans just shrugs again at you, his eyes are shut but his smile is growing ever so slowly larger. You put your hands to your cheeks, your thought process completely unimpeded but his lack of reaction.

“Wow… I’ve always wanted to be able to teleport. Or fly. I mean imagine the money you would save on gas! Oh shit, I wouldn’t even need a car for gas! I could sleep in till like 8:30 and then get ready for work and just poof off at the last minute but be there in time. I’d never be late to anything again in my life! It’d be absolutely incredible! And then…” you trail off looking at Sans. He’s got his head resting in his the hand that is propped on the bar top just watching you as you ramble along. His expression is unreadable, but his signature smile seems softer somehow.

“Aha, sorry. Um… that was really freakin’ cool though,” you tell him and you can feel your face grow hot under his gaze.

“Heheh, it’s cool. Hey Grillbz,” Sans says as the fire Monster approaches.

“Weren’t you just here for breakfast?” Grillby asks, his voice is husky and warm and crackles like an open flame. Sans just waves his hand, his smile gaining its normal edge.

“I’m sure you’re thinking of brunch,” Sans responds. Grillby just scoffs, shaking his head. “What? My pal here was hungry. I couldn’t let them become skin and bones like me.”

You give the bartender (haha tinder) a small apologetic smile, he just sighs at Sans’s pun. “Well can I get for you two?”

“I dunno, what do you want?” Sans asks, turning to you.

“Hmm… Do you guys have milkshakes?” You turn to Grillby. You feel a bit more comfortable asking this time now that the atmosphere isn’t charged between you and Sans.

“Yes. Vanilla and chocolate,” Grillby tells you, picking up a bar towel and wiping behind the counter. You practically salivate at the thought of a chocolate milkshake and some fries.

“Can I have a chocolate milkshake and some fries?”

“Sounds good to me,” Sans says. “A ‘shake and some fries for me too Grillbz.”

Grillby nods and walks off as Sans turns back to you. “So you have a car on the surface?”

“Mm-hmm. Ebbot and the surrounding towns are all pretty cut off from society really. I mean, you gotta drive for a good 20 minutes to get to anywhere with anything. I mean, you gotta drive to get to Walmart,” you grumble.

“I can’t even imagine…” Sans murmurs softly and you turn to look at him. His eyes are closed and his grin is tight, almost like a grimace. “To have all that space…”

You feel a sinking feeling in your stomach and your heart aches for him. You realize everyone down here feels the same way. You’re the only thing standing between them and freedom. Well you and a cowardly king. (You don’t really blame him though… You’d be scared to leave to if both of your parents were killed by some other more powerful race.)

You think for a moment and then scramble around in your backpack for your smart phone. You check the power; it’s got about 32 percent left. You plop it in between the two of you and swipe it open and click to your photos. The most recent is those you took a couple days ago before you fell down. Sans sends you a quizzical look and you smile back at him.

“I know it’s not much… but I have some photos I can show you from above,” you give him a meek smile. It’s quiet. His eyes grow wide and the signature grin on his face slipping off into a look of awe. Your face is growing even redder under his unwavering stare. 

“Here’s your food,” Grillby sets the milkshakes and fries in front of you and Sans, breaking the silence and whatever mood was happening. You thank whatever deity is out there that he did. 

“Thanks!” You chirp at him, your voice higher than normal. You rip open your straw wrapper and aggressively stick the straw in your milkshake, taking a long drag. Oh my god. You have died. You’re not tearing up over a milkshake at all.

“Want some ketchup for your fries?” Sans asks, his normal grin back on his face.

“No thanks,” you tell him with a grin. You take one of the fries and dip in the milkshake before putting in your mouth and chewing, maintaining eye contact the entire time. He seems, not surprised, but utterly delighted, picking up the ketchup bottle on the counter and taking a swig of it straight up.

You sputter, choking on your half chewed french fry, before finally swallowing and coughing a bit. Once you regain your composure you can’t help but to laugh. Shaking your head you mutter out, “Wow. Just wow.”

It’s silent again, but this time it’s companionable silence as you both start to dig into your food. 

“So what’s that about photos of Aboveground?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is this???? Fluff????
> 
> Are we actually getting a romantic subplot going???
> 
> Am I ever going to answer of these questions???
> 
> maybe ;)


	27. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wha okay so this chapter is super short and turned out nothing how I expected it but at least I updated like promised! :D
> 
> I will probably have the next chapter out soon actually because we're getting to a critical part of the story and I already have a coupld chapters planned... If I don't get them out though please be patient... My sister is visiting this week and I will probably be rather busy again ;.;
> 
> Thank you and enjoy!

You don’t know how long you sit there. You have already eaten all your fries and the milkshake has been left behind as you and Sans look through your photo album. He particularly seems to like the photos of the sky and the ocean and the moon. You profusely apologize for the shitty quality of your phone’s camera. Sans obviously doesn’t mind; he just laughs at your stuttered apologies at something that you can’t even help, he’s way too interested in the blurry photos and the images they create to even pretend to be upset.

Suddenly you hear a slow synthetic jazz tune emanate from Sans. He gives you a saucy grin as he pulls out a surprisingly modern looking cell phone. It looks kind of like your own smart phone and when he glides his finger across the screen to answer it.

“Sup bro,” Sans answers, turning in his seat away from you a bit.

“You know what’s ‘sup’ brother! It is time to initiate plan the plan!” Papyrus is so loud that you can hear him through the speaker. Sans winces a little at the volume himself and pulls the phone away from his... you’d say ear but he technically doesn't have one? So the place where one would go? Yea, there.

“So soon? It’s only been like two hours or something!” Sans responds, sweat beading along his brow.

“Yes, well, I think Undyne got a head start this morning… It could be that I haven’t called her in a while but I don’t know… I think she’s already headed to Hotland. So now would be the best to start the plan. I think.”

“Uh… Alright Pap, I’ll talk to ya later.” He puts his phone back into the depths of his overly fluffy jacket. He then runs a hand down and across his face, bones clacking together like marbles on wood.

“Okay Fri-uh… kid. Look. I really ain’t got time to explain, but me and Pap got this plan and basically Undyne’s making us skip a couple steps okay? So look, I gotta go to my sentry stand but I’ll catch ya later,” he hops up from the bar stool, sliding your now half dead phone back to you. “Oh, and no matter what happens, don’t forget I got an eye-socket out for you, okay?”

He then turns on his heel and heads towards the door. In a couple of steps he blinks out of existence. You stare after him for a while wishing he would have given you more of an explanation before he hurried off. But what can you do? You don’t have Papyrus’s number, much less Sans’s so you were just going to have to go out on a limb and trust these two bone heads. 

You also wish he would have at least taken you back with him. Jerk.

You then sigh, centering yourself for another hike back through Snowdin and Waterfall when you feel a heat over your shoulder. Turning around, you see Grillby, and ignoring the fact that he was made out entirely of fire, you swore you watched one brow raise expectantly over his square-framed glasses.

It takes you a second, an eyebrow of your own quirking, when you notice the receipt in his hand and you groan. “How much is the damage?”

“It’s quite a bit… I can just put it on his tab,” Grillby says conspiratorially, but hands you the check anyway.

Your eyes practically bug out of your face. That’s a lot of zeros. “Oh God, I can’t even imagine how much money Sans owes you.”

Grillby shrugs. “It’s fine. He owes me a lot more than that.”

“Geez,” you wheeze out. You rummage around in your bag to dig out all the gold coins that you managed to scrounge from the encounters with different monsters. It covers about three-quarters of the bill and god you feel so embarrassed right now.

“Sorry, this… this is all the money I have…” You say, turning beet-red as you slide over the mess of coins to Grillby. He stares at them a bit before looking to you and back.

“This is all the money you have?” He sounds incredulous and maybe a little concerned.

“Uh… yeah… I don’t think you accept credit cards right?” You titter awkwardly at him.

“What’s a credit card?” He asks under his breath before shaking his head and letting out a small huff that comes out as steam. “Here, I’ll take this much. It at least covers your portion. Sans I know will pay me back… Eventually.”

“Are you sure?” You ask, even as he pushes the rest of the gold back into your hands.

“I can’t have you running around with no money! What if you get lost? Or hurt? You’ll need money to buy things here!” He explains, his flames flickering with agitation. His movements pause. “Actually… How old are you even? Should you even be running around by yourself?”

You chuckle. “Well… I know that stripes down here indicate age, but trust me when I tell you I’m not a kid. I’m actually 22.”

“Still. How can those boys let you run around with just this little bit of money? Ridiculous.” He hums collecting his coins and pushing the rest of the coins back to you.

You flash him a wide grin. “Thanks Grillby! You’re a lot like a dad.”

“Well I would hope! I have a daughter and I helped raise those boys!” He humpfs out.

That throws you for a loop and you pause for a second, your hands hovering over the rest of the gold coins. You want to ask more, but you don’t want to pry. Unless it’s not uncommon knowledge? You still can’t help help the soft, “You did?” that escapes you.

He nods and he collects Sans and your dirty dishes off the counter. “I did. Found them wandering around Snowdin one day and took them in. Taught them the best I could really.”

“Well they are both really great and have been nothing but wonderful to me,” you tell him honestly. “I think you did great… Uh, not that my opinion has much merit.”

He chuckles a bit at that. “No, but it is still nice to hear.” He then makes a shooing motion with his hands. “Now scat. Don’t you have someplace you need to be?”

“Oh! Oh yeah!” You finally push all the coins into the outer pocket of your bag and pull the heavy jacket Sans had given you out of it. You shrug it on. “Thank you so much Grillby!”

His flames crackle pleasantly, almost as if embarrassed, and waves to you as you run out the door.


	28. UNDYNE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 28??? WOW
> 
> okay so 
> 
> im gonna try and get out another chapter this weekend. HOPEFULLY!!!

You manage to book it through Snowdin and back to Waterfall in a little under an hour. Energy from the good food from Grillby’s and hope from the skelebros plan made you feel lighter and the cold a little less bothersome. Yet you still curse Sans for making you walk through the cold and snow again, because this time, due to the mud caked on your boots, your feet feel like lead blocks by the time the easily recognizable glowing rocks come into view.

You peel off the musty yellow jacket once the temperature warms up, and stomp your feet around to get the circulation moving, swearing to yourself the whole time. You then follow the river to the familiar stratas near Sans’s guard post. You see the fish-man arguing with… a flower, and Monster Kid dozing against the rocky wall. You can’t help but to giggle at his slack-jawed face.

He must’ve heard you, whether it is from the squishing sound of your feet on the soggy ground or the sound of your laughter, but he startles awake, a small dribble of drool running down his face. He blinks his blurry eyes awake and looks at you wide eyed before jumping to his feet.

“Are you ready?” He asks, eyes wide. You’re honestly kind of surprised he actually waited this whole time for you to come back. You feel kind of bad for making him wait so long.

“Sure,” you tell him, nodding. He practically vibrates with enthusiasm. You wonder if he’s ever met Papyrus. You’re nine hundred percent sure they’d get along fabulously.

“Awesome! Yeah! Alright! I’ll meet you ahead!” He says, and before you can even say anything, he’s off, quick as lightning. He kind of reminds you of Sonic the Hedgehog, where he runs in place before zooming off. The imagery makes you shake your head and snicker a bit, but you give a stretch and continue on.

You stop again briefly when you get to Sans’s sentry post. He’s standing inside, wide awake, with a small sheen of sweat on his face. When he see’s you, his permanent grin grows painfully and he manages to look even more awkward.

Well, you decided you’d let him suffer a little bit too. Afterall, he did leave you behind in Snowdin.

So you stand there, mouth shut and eyebrows raised, looking all the parts disappointed parent. Sans very easily picked up on it, the little specks of light in his sockets flickering around nervously before looking down to the grain pattern on the wood of his outpost’s countertop.

“Eheh… Wood-n’t you know, but here you are again,” he says, chuckling nervously. 

“I seriously can’t believe you left me back there. You can teleport and you left me there,” you chide him, crossing your arms.

“Look Frisk I’m sorry, but uh… I kinda had to be at my post alone so Undyne wouldn’t freak out.” A pause. “It was kind of part of the plan.”

“Part of your guys’s plan was to abandon me at Grillby’s with little to no money to pay for it?” You can’t help the shrill way your voice comes out. He flinches at your tone. Okay maybe you were more than a little miffed at being left alone.

“Come on kid, you said you were twenty-two. You can’t be twenty-two and not have any money on you at all. Now I know you’re pulling my leg.”

“Imagine for one moment, that perhaps, just maybe, the currency used Aboveground is different to the Underground’s?”

You can see realization slowly dawn on his face. He places a hand to skull and sighs. “I truly am a bonehead aren’t I?”

“Yup. Truly a numbskull,” you confirm. 

“Shit. Well, I’ll have to make it up to you sometime. Guess that means we just have to hangout again.” He throws in an over exaggerated wink and you can’t help but laugh. “Forgive me?”

“Alright, alright. Since you’re looking out for me, I guess I can cut you some slack,” you reply, turning to go and giving him a wave. He gives a lazy wave back as you walk off after MK. You hear him call out “be careful” as you walk away.

You walk for quite a while, looking for MK the entire time You’re not sure where he wandered off to but you hope he’s okay. Waterfall is pretty hazardous, especially for someone who seems as klutzy as MK. Along with it’s more cavernous appearance and large, craggy outcroppings, it also has large waterfalls that soak through the old wooden bridges that go over them. Some of the bridges are even flooded out and you slip and slide on the mossy slats as you try and walk across causing water to soak into your boots and socks. 

You eventually end up stuck in a narrow passageway completely filled with tall grass. It’s taller than your head and looks a bit like cattails. Actually, you’re no herbologist, but you’re actually pretty sure that these things are cattails. You’re not sure how they’re even growing down here without sunlight. Add to the list of things that really didn’t made sense down here. You humpf at it’s presence and stalk your way through it. It’s rather annoying, considering it catches and tickles your nose. You pause long enough to pull the edge of your hoodie over your nose and are about to continue when you hear something very familiar.

“Hi Undyne!” Ah. You’d know Papyrus’s voice anywhere. He was talking to Undyne? Wasn’t she the person you were trying not to be found by? “I’m here to give you my daily report!”

You heard something of a response, but Undyne’s voice was too muffled for you to clearly hear it. Papyrus on the other hand didn’t seem to have this issue.

“Oh. Yes. Regarding the human I called you about earlier…” Papyrus sounds really nervous. You feel bad for putting him on the spot but you silently cheer him on. Go Papyrus! Your little internal cheer-fest is interrupted by more of the muffled voice.

“Huh? Did I fight them? Yes, of course! I fought valiantly!” Muffle muffle.

“Did they hurt me? No of course not!” Undyne thought you would hurt him? You suppose considering the history that is to be expected, but still… You can't imagine anyone hurting Papyrus. You squat down in the grass. Papyrus is just too sweet really...

“Did I capture them? Well… No… I tried very hard but in the end I failed…” Oh no. Your stomach drops. This was not going well. You think maybe you should start moving, but you’re not sure where they are compared to you and you really don’t want to draw attention to yourself.

“What? You’re going to take the human’s soul yourself? But Undyne! You don’t have to destroy them! You see-”

You hear Undyne shout out Papyrus’s name and he quiets. You can hardly even hear her muffled voice as she continues on.

“I… I… Understand… I’ll help you in anyway I can…” Papyrus noooooo. “They are probably still back in Snowdin! Perhaps you can help me look!” Okay! Good! Diversion tactics!

Just then you hear a sneeze in front of you. What was that? 

“What was that?” You hear from Papyrus. Your thoughts exactly. “Oh Undyne wait!”

You hear the clanking of metal on metal. Armor? Weapons? You don’t know, but you cover your mouth with your hands and try not to scream or breathe very loud. Or make noise in general.

It gets quiet.

“Undyne. Don’t. What if it’s a Monster?” Papyrus’s quiet voice cuts through the silence.

“You’re right. Let’s go.” You hear Undyne state, even if her voice is still being muffled.

So you wait. Five minutes? Ten? You don’t know. You wait until the natural ambience of Waterfall picks back up and the figurative ice thaws from your feet and chest. You finally release the tight clamp you have over your mouth and take a deep breath. You were okay. Things were fine. Papyrus has distracted Undyne, so all you had to do was to get through Waterfall.

You stood up. You were filled with determination again.


	29. QUIET WATER PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a short chapter, but the timing wasn't uite right to continue it anyfarther than this so I'm going to break it up into a coupld parts.
> 
> So here ya go!

You keep walking, grass scartching the uncovered parts of you until you start to see empty walkway. You sigh, closing your eyes as you walk out into the clearing and BAM! You run into someone, and are knocked flat on your ass.

“Oof! Sorry, I didn’t-MK?” You stare at him in disbelief. He’s also flopped back on the floor, but he looks like he’s in Heaven.

“Yo! Did you see her? Did you see the way she stared at you?” He looks totally euphoric, wide eyes staring off into the middle distance. “That. Was. Awesome!”

“MK! Was that you who sneezed in the grass?” You ask, getting up and then walking over to help pull him up. He nods at your question while you grab the front of his sweater in an attempt to provide some leverage. 

“You scared the hell out of me! What if Undyne had attacked us!” You feel bad, because you’re practically screaming at him, but you’re still slightly panicking from your near run in with Lady Death herself.

“No way! That would never happen! Undyne only attacks bad guys!” MK says, with only the optimism and trust a child would say. You sigh, frowning slightly. This kid… how old was he any way?

“C’mon! Lets keep going! Maybe we can see her beat up some bad guys!” MK barrelled on, turning to head back to Snowdin.

“Sorry bud”, you say after taking a calming breath, stopping him in his tracks. “I gotta keep going towards Hotland.”

“Awww,” he whines, head and tail drooping. His expression then turns hopeful “Well I guess I’ll see you around then?”

“Course! I’ve been staying with the Skeleton brothers over in Snowdin if you wanna hang out again,” you tell him, smiling.

“Aww right! See ya!” He shouts, running through the tall grass. You just chuckle and keep moving forwards. There is a lingering feeling of dread but you know you have to stay determined.

 

Time seems to pass slowly as you keep moving on with only your thoughts to keep you company.

The Underground is quite literally a magical place. It sounds dumb and kind of cliche to say it, but it truly is. There is so much that occurs Underground that you just don’t understand. From Snowdin’s mysterious weather to Waterfall’s bizarre plantlife, you honestly think you could live here a thousand lifetimes and still be amazed by it all… Although to be fair, you came from a world where magic and monsters were myths told to kids. To find out it was all real… and under your feet the entire time… if filled you with a sense of, well, something. Awe? Amazement? Some other “A” adjective that you couldn’t think of?

Yeah. Probably.

It was like aliens had descended from the sky to your humble little farmhouse out in the boonies. It was almost too fantastic to be real. And yet as you placed another flower, some kind of magical Water Lily, across the slow running stream to finish building the bridge to the next landing, you knew it was. It made you seriously rethink a lot of your beliefs… 

Your family had always lived around Mt. Ebbot. Very distantly, you knew that you were related to the Native Americans that once called the area their home. Not that you knew any true percentage of what you were: a good ol’ American Hybrid, that’s what you really were, but you still knew that you could still see and visit your great grandfather’s homestead in the Historic District. 

How long had your family lived there with literal Monsters right underfoot? The books down here placed the barrier’s inception over a thousand years ago. These poor people have been stuck underground for so long. No sun. No moon. No stars. Just the endless rock walls to greet them. Thinking about it makes you almost claustrophobic and you’ve never been claustrophobic in your life.

RING RING

“Shit!” You jump, the sound of your phone startling you out of your thoughts. You scramble for it, almost dropping it in your haste to answer it.

“Hello?” 

“Hello! This is Papyrus!”

“Hey Pap!” You’re honestly a little bummed that it’s not Toriel. You’re not sure why it surprises you. Your last meeting with her was pretty… Final. A thought occurs to you though, “How did you get this number?”

“That is a good question! It was easy! You see… I just dailed every number sequentially until I got yours!”

You’re a little dumbfounded by his answer, but it’s incredibly Papyrus. It somehow doesn't surprise you in the least. You can’t help but to laugh, imagining him hunkered over the phone calling every Monster in the Underground. “Oh my gosh Pap, that’s very persistent of you!”

“Nyeh-heh! Of course! The Great Papyrus is many things, persistent being one of them!” You hear a shuffling from his end of the line as well as some muffled but harsh whispers. He must still be with Undyne. 

“Well, at least you have it now so you won’t have to redial it again and again,” you say, trying to sound nonchalant as you continue moving. If Pap is calling you and he’s with Undyne, that means she’s figured out you’ve moved on from Snowdin a long time ago. You know you got quite some time on her. Heading back to Snowdin, or at least close to Snowdin, had given you quite the head start. The only thing is, is that she knows her way around a lot better than you do.

“So… What are you currently wearing?” Papyrus sounds strained and you feel bad for him again. “I’m asking for a friend…”

“Um,” you think quick. “That yellow coat Sans let me borrow.”

“Oh of course! That makes a lot of sense!” More muffled talking. “Okay! Well thank you for answering my question! Have a nice day! Wink wink!”

You can’t believe he just said “wink wink” through the telephone. God damn that Skeleton was too precious for his own damn good. 

“Alright. Bye Papyrus,” you manage to get out before you hear the click of the call ending. You stop walking, pausing to stare at the phone in confusion, before placing it back in your pocket and moving forward again.


	30. QUIET WATER PT 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guess what guys....
> 
> I made it.
> 
> I wrote this chapter.
> 
> I literally was having such bad writers block on this chapter but its finally out!!!!

You end up entering a long, dark hallway of sorts. It’s pretty much pitch black, with the only light coming from glowing runes set into the cave’s walls and the phosphorescent flowers that seem to naturally grow here. 

Curiosity makes you wander over to the runes. As you look at them, they magically rearrange themselves into English. It’s amazing but you don’t really think about it too much. In the scheme of things, it seems pretty normal. Either way, the runes spell out “Wishing Room” and you hmm softly in response. You suppose it does look a bit like a starry sky with the way the rocks twinkle in the darkness. 

You silently wish that you make it out from the Underground alive.

You walk along, eyeing the beautiful rocks when a small Monster walks up to you. It looks like a little animated bucket with claw like paws, a little pom-pom tail, and a perfectly round head. You tilt your head. It tilts it’s head back.

“Woshu hands?” It asks, turning to the side to allow you access to it’s… body? You don’t know, it’s got water in it’s bucket body with a little duckling swimming around happily in it. 

“Sure?” You answer. You walk a little closer and it watches you with it’s beady eyes. It kind of looks like a turtle now that you’re closer. The basin on it’s back as big as a bathtub. 

Once you get close enough to touch it, it’s eyes crinkle a bit, almost like disgust. It seems to be looking at the mud on your pants and grease on your hoodie. “Woshu clothes?”

“Yeah I know I need to but-” You don’t even get to finish before it tilts itself away from you then back, splashing water all over you and your clothes. 

“Uh?” You are an intelligent person, you swear. “Uh!?” 

You’re absolutely frozen, confused by the weird monster and it splashing you with it’s weird body water… stuff. You bring your hands up to your face and wipe away the excess water there. As soon as you bring your hands away to look at… the Woshua? Yes… You notice the Woshua’s little tag-a-long, the duckling, has turned to look at you. It lets out a quack. This would be like, maybe adorable, but the quack comes out with sound waves and everything like a freaking cartoon, and you feel your hair and clothes fly back like you’re walking in a fucking tornado. As quickly as it starts, it stops and when the wind stops ringing in your ears, you open your eyes to find Woshua and the duckling both staring at you with expectant faces. 

You blink. Once. Twice. And pat your hoodie. It’s actually completely dry. And when you look at it to see the fabric, it actually looks better than it has in years, the colors a bit more vibrant and the material a little softer. You bring the collar of your hoodie to your nose and give it an experimental sniff. It smells really clean. Not like the floral scent of your mom’s laundry detergent, but like one of those fresh linen candles you find in Yankee candle stores. It’s quite honestly amazing. It must show on your face, because Woshua just nods and continues on it’s merry way, steadily clomping through the marshy cave, magic bath-water splashing with every step. 

All you can do is just wave to it as it walks away, completely baffled by like… everything. But at least you smell better, so yey? That’s a plus? Maybe you need a list of Really Weird Things that happen in the underground. 

You instead turn yourself on the spot and continue along the cavern. Eventually you find yourself at a dead end, with the only things in sight being the beautiful blue flowers and a telescope placed looking upwards at the intersection of two pathways. To be honest, you kind of want to look at the telescope but there is no one around to for you to even ask if it’s okay. Look, your Mom raised you right and that includes respecting people and their stuff. (Sans you think could definitely learn a bit from that.)

Maybe you missed a clue so you backtrack down the hallway. No. Nothing new down here. 

You move back towards the dead ends. Still the same old same old. There is only one solution to this problem: call Papyrus.

Ring ring goes the telephone. You hear the line click.

“Hello?” Papyrus’s voice is still unnecessarily loud through the phone. He sounds less strained than before so you assume Undyne isn’t with him anymore.

“Hi Papyrus, it’s me again.”

“Oh! Hello again Human! What’s up?”

“Well to be honest I’m a little at loss for where to go,” you tell him examining a crack in the wall near the telescope as if it held all of the answers you needed.

“Oh? Where are you! The Great Papyrus is very good at helping!” You give out a small chuckle at that. You’re sure he was.

“I’m in the Wishing Room and I-”

“Oh The Wishing Room? Do you have a wish? My wish is to be talking to my very cool friend! Wowie! Look it came true!” He exclaims in a rush, nyeh-hehing along at his own little joke. You chuckle too.

“Yes yes, flattery will get you nowhere you know Paps,” you tell him in mock seriousness.

“Flattery? Why Human, I only speak the truth!” 

“D’aww… Pap.” You rock back and forth, warm fluttery feeling filling you up and a giant smile pulling on your face. His word’s give you more resolve. “Oh right! So. Wishing Room. How do I get out of here?”

“Do you not see the door?”

“No?” You walk around the telescope and look down the only fork in the otherwise straight hallway. “I see a telescope…”

“Ugh! Sans! I thought I told him this was not the time for pranking across time and space! Have you checked the telescope?”

“I didn’t want to touch because I didn’t know who’s telescope it was,” you tell him honestly while sidling up to it and adjusting the eyepiece so you could look through it. You don’t see anything at first, just the a close-up of the fluorescent rocks that mimic the starry sky above. You move it around, enjoying the sights when you notice something: a smudge of black on the lens that stays in place no matter where you move it. You find a particularly dense cluster of rocks to your right and focus the telescope there.

“Did you find it?” Papyrus asks.

“Yes,” you sigh. The black smudge is actually a message that reads “Check Wall” with an arrow pointing towards the dead end you were eyeballing earlier.

“Good! I do not mean to rush you Human, but I must let you go.”

“That’s alright Pap. I got it now.”

“Alright Good bye!” He chirps, and before you can even get a good bye back out at him, he hangs up.

“Alright…” You mutter to yourself, pocketing the phone as you walk up to the walk. It looks the same as before, a solid sheet of stone, but the more you examine it, the more you notice that there is something off about it. You take another step forward and WHOOSH! A whole chunk of rock slides up into the top of the cavern wall. It happens so quickly it actually startles you into taking a step back… which in turn causes the chunk of rock to move back to it’s previous place.

You gape. Wow. Step forward, rock moves up and you can leave. Step backwards, the rock moves back down looking like a solid rock wall. Magic sure is something, you think as you step forward again and through the craggy archway.


	31. RUN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was stuck on thischapter for the longest time, so I apologize.
> 
> I also apologize for finishing it while sick.

The next room opens up larger than the last. It’s dark still, darker than the last room, with old, algae-logged planks over still water. You slide a little bit as you step up to the rock wall with more of the magical runes on it. Ever curious, you carefully walk up to them to inspect them. The writing, even magical, is faded from the water and time. You can barely make out the worn out words.

“The War of Humans and Monsters.

Why did Humans Attack? Indeed, it seems they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every Monster just to equal the power of a single human soul...

But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their soul. It’s power allows it to persist outside of the human body, even after death...

If a monster defeats a human, it can take its soul. A Monster with a Human soul… A horrible beast with unfathomable power.”

The last carving is a picture of some kind of Monster. It’s strange, oddly disproportionate, even for a Monster. Lines of magic, or tattoos, you’re not sure, line and swirl around his body, elongate him and create wings where there should be none.You get chills down your back just looking at it. It almost seems to move by itself as you look at it so you quickly turn away, adjusting your backpack.

You continue along the slippery wooden path until it abruptly stops, ending in a small seemingly hovering square platform over an endless abyss. It looks newer than the boards you’re currently standing on, the nails in the wood not even rusted yet. You wait for a moment, carefully peering around the edges, trying to see if it connects or continues onwards, but you don’t. Like most things here, it just seems to do it’s own thing, gravity, and most other laws of nature, be damned. So you take a hesitant step forward and put your weight on the boards.

It doesn’t even shift under your weight. Which you find… well freakin’ weird. So you step fully onto it, and it clicks, shifting and moving beneath you. 

“Hey, wait,” you squeal, feeling the tepid air of Waterfall caress your face as the planks actually start drifting forward. It takes everything in your to stop from dropping to your knees, and you’re mildly thankful for the extreme darkness that makes it impossible to see whatever is below you. You have a feeling that it isn’t good. 

You close your eyes, and take deep breaths, fighting off the impending panic you feel pressing down on you. Soon enough you feel a slight click, and sure enough you’re on the other side of the huge gap. It takes you a while to unlock your legs, but once you do, you stumble back onto the slippery floorboards with a breathless chuckle. Thank the heavens above for sweet, sweet land, you think, almost kissing the planks like a cartoon character.

Once your breathing and heart-rate calms down, you start walking forward, but something seems… wrong. It’s quiet here. Quieter than almost every other place that you’ve been too. Even the natural ambience sees to have halted. It makes the tiny hairs on the back of your neck and arms raise, and almost immediately you feel your heartbeat start to escalate again.

You take a one step, and then another, carefully watching, listening, waiting. Something isn’t right and you know it. And then, just as you are about to take another step, you falter. Something inside you screams to. Back. Up. And instead of placing the foot in front of you, you place it behind you, leaning back, as the place in front of you is filled with a glowing spear. 

You recognize it almost immediately, something inside you telling you it’s Undyne. Undyne is here. Undyne is here and you need to move now!

You take a deep breath, heart immediately racing, and sprint around the spear embedded into the floor beneath you. You turn to your left, head automatically craning to search for the suit of armor, and there! Between earthen pillars, you see her, arm raised and magic swirling at her fingertips. Another spear forms, shooting out from her hiding spot, hitting right where you were. You can feel the power of them crackling behind you as you scramble forward.

You don’t waste anytime. A vision of you with a spear protruding from your chest enters your mind and the very gruesome thought propels you forward. Heavy clanking from behind and to your left lets you know that she chasing you and you sputter, adrenaline pumping through you as you dodge and weave through the rain of magical spears she brings down upon you. 

A part of you wants to look back at her. To see where she is. To try and reason with her like you’ve been able to reason with everyone else down here. But another part of you tells you to keep your eyes straight ahead. To keep moving. Don’t look back. 

Looking back means death. 

Another image of you with a spear right through your eye socket is so jarring and life-like that you almost stumble, but you instead manage to catch yourself, sliding around a harsh corner before going back into a full sprint. This is much worse than any other Monster you’ve encountered.

Just when you feel your chest start to tighten and your legs start to wobble, you see hope. The end of the long wooden boardwalk with a large patch of those tall weeds that grow down here. You practically slide into the sward, before crawling forward after you hear Undyne’s steps continue in behind you.

You still for a moment, covering your mouth, forcing yourself to breath through your nose as quietly as possible as she comes to a standstill above you. And then, a hand, a shifting of grass, movement, and then… you hear her walk away.

It takes you a good long while to get your shit together after that. Your chest hurts, and you’re trying not to cry as you try and calm your breathing and delay a panic attack for the second time in a day. After that you do slowly clamber out of the weeds. You’re exhausted, both mentally and physically, and you have every right to be after what today has thrown at you. 

You pull out your phone and find that it’s only been maybe an hour or two since you saw Sans at his post after eating with him at Grillby’s, but all you want to do is take a nap. You wonder if you called Papyrus you could get him to get Sans to come pick you up or something. It might delay your progress quite a bit, but after that…

“Yo!” You startle, almost dropping your phone, as you whip around to see who it is. It’s just that little Monster Kid from earlier. Was he the one Undyne caught instead of you? Dear Lord. An image of him covered in your blood flashes through your mind, and you give an involuntary shiver. You’re thankful that this kid saved your ass but you also wish he would go home. You don’t need him to see anything… er… particularly bad.

“Did you see that? Undyne touched me!” He continues on, oblivious to your inner turmoil, which you’re kind of grateful for. 

“Er… yeah. Congrats,” you say, forcing a smile onto your face.

“I’m never washing my face ever again!” He exclaims, bouncing around you, completely unphased by your lack of enthusiasm, but then he pauses. “Man… If you were standing just a little bit to the left… Hey! But don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll see her again!”

Yeah. Because that’s exactly what you wanted.

“C’mon!” He calls back to you as he rushes off, stumbling over his own feet again. 

It’s at that point that you realize that you can’t call Papyrus or Sans to get you out of here. This kid is out here with you. And from what you can gather, Waterfall isn’t the most child-friendly area, and yeah, Undyne might want to take your soul, but he was still a kid.

You pocket your phone, swallowing your fear and feeling determined.


	32. Author Update

Hey guys!

So long, no see huh?

Well... it's been a along time since I've updated.... anything and I know you're all wondering if I've dropped off the face of the Earth.

The short story is no, I haven't. I've just been insanely busy.

The long story is I've been experiencing a lot in my life and my mental health has been wishy washy while I try to deal with it. My grandfather passed away recently and so did my uncle, depression, anxiety, a full time job. Well... you all kind of understand right? It's hard being an adult.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Lately... things have been getting better. Other then a very long and yet weirdly mild dissociative episode that happened last week, my mental health has been getting better. I'm getting better. I'm feeling better.

So where does this leave the stories? And Again, Whiskey Sours and Butterfly Wings, Looking for Something? They're all going to continue as I hopefully get myself back on a writing schedule. 

"But Fudge", I hear you all cry out, "why post a chapter? Normally you do this in the author notes?"

Well my lovely readers, all of your positive comments and continuous love for my stories gives me a lot of hope! And looking back through And Again, my longest running Ao3 story, has made me realize something. I've improved a lot since I started posting 2(?) years ago. In fact... this story? And Again? If you notice, it has been moved to my scrapped ideas section. 

This story is going under rewriting again and will be reposted under a new name with a stronger plot, better writing, and hopefully overall better consistancey. I want to do this becase I love this story and I've had thoughts and concepts for this story floating around in my head that currently don't work with it. I don't want to just rewrite chapters like I did last time because whole chunks of the story might be moved deleted or reused, plus I want this original copy here as a testimony for how much I've been able to accomplish and so you all can read it if you want.

Whiskey Sours and Butterfly Wings and Looking for Something will continue updating like normal once I figure out some hinks. I've been working and reworking chpt 2 for Looking for Somehing for like 3 months now and Whiskey Sours needs some internal theology worked up before the story can progress again.

So please be patient, and thank you for all your support again! And as always, I could definitely use a Beta Reader, so hmu if you think you're capable.

<3 your good pal, Fudge


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